New COVID-19 test mandates for travelers arriving from China to the United States came into force Thursday, requiring all passengers two years and older to provide negative results from tests taken no more than two days before travel.
While other countries like Japan, India and South Korea have taken similar steps, some Asian community advocates in the United States fear the move could trigger anti-asian hate and bias while unfairly singling out a particular group of travellers.
Harmful rhetoric can trigger the firestorm, advocates say.
“What we’ve seen is that it’s not just politics that trigger incidents, but the language used by elected officials and public figures,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a consortium of several groups based in San Francisco. formed in response to rising anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kulkarni quoted inflammatory terms like “kung flu” Used by former President Donald Trump and others when the pandemic began to unfold in 2020, followed by stricter public charge rules affecting Asian immigrants and mass deportations of those from Southeast Asia.
“Since we began receiving incident reports in March 2020, we have over 11,000 reports of individuals across the country who have experienced anti-Asian hatred,” said Kulkarni, who is also a director. executive of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, a coalition . of organizations serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County, California. “There are many sources of news that elicit animosity, but combined they have the effect of legitimizing the scapegoating of Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans.”
Here’s what you need to know.
Why did the United States make the switch?
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The United States had lifted the last of its negative test mandates for travelers in June, although the CDC has always suggested that passengers be tested just before flights and avoid travel if they are sick.
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COVID-19 testing requirements were recently instituted or renewed by the United States and other countries as infection rates rise in China following a relaxation of that country’s rigid anti-virus restrictions. China initially adopted a “zero COVID” strategy that kept infection rates low but hampered the country’s economy while fueling public resentment.
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In addition to renewed CDC restrictions, at least one cruise operator – Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which operates the Norwegian, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas lines – now requires pre-cruise testing for passengers whose journeys have taken them to mainland China. , Hong Kong or Macau within the past 10 days.
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The changes come as China anticipates its busiest travel season – the Lunar New Year, which begins on January 1. 22.
Why are lawyers concerned?
Community advocates worry that, as in the early stages of the pandemic, targeting travelers from a specific region could inadvertently lead to widespread prejudice and mistreatment of Asian Americans.
Frank Wu, president of Queens College at the City University of New York, noted that the rise in anti-Asian sentiment that accompanies the pandemic is not just targeting Asian Americans, but even others thought to be . In April 2021, for example, a 70-year-old Mexican American woman was allegedly assaulted on a subway bus in Los Angeles by an attacker who mistook her for Asian.
“Many of those attacked were not of Chinese origin,” Wu said. But they were blamed for the virus. What hate crimes have shown is that haters don’t discriminate.
Such feelings were further elicited by the words and actions of political leaders and public figures, Kulkarni said.
“Our major concern is when discrimination and racism trump science,” she said. “We saw some of this at the start of COVID: instead of taking blame for the outbreak in the United States, the Trump administration sought to specifically pin the blame on China. Bias against Asian Americans has become a distraction from finding solutions to the pandemic when they are badly needed.
What measures could be taken instead?
Kulkarni said while it is important to follow the advice of public health experts, it is unfair to choose a particular geographic region – even though experts predict up to 2 million deaths and hundreds of millions of infections in China following its eased restrictions. .
“We know infection rates are on the rise in many countries around the world,” Kulkarni said. “If we are truly concerned about these variants and their spread through travel, then we should consider considering new masking policies and requiring negative tests for all travelers, regardless of origin. “
Wu said while it makes sense to put protocols in place to protect the United States from particular areas with severe COVID-19 outbreaks, such actions should be implemented with caution.
“We just have to be careful,” Wu said. “Good policies can inspire bad actions.”
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