Viral Reflections: Fear and Biological Misappropriations Toward Asians and Pacific Islanders

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the need to resolve the many challenges in society and healthcare. COVID-19 has produced millions of fatalities and reshaped how we view illness. The harm that COVID-19 has caused is not limited to physical maleficence, but also includes the social misappropriations of race and disease. Terms like “Chinese virus” and “Kung flu” are racial epithets that threaten the lives of Asians and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) by physical, verbal, and cyber-bullying. This paper will reflect on the historical, pathological, and media influences on race and disease and how these three factors became catalysts used to blame the AAPI community for the cause and spread of COVID-19.