XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
      
   A newspaper front page called it a “Chinese virus.” Fake posts   
   have warned people to avoid Chinese products. As the outbreak   
   spreads, some worry about xenophobia.   
      
   The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia   
   bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written   
   by Isabella Kwai, a reporter with the Australia bureau.   
      
   Recently, when Andy Miao takes the train to work in Sydney, he   
   has noticed other people’s disapproving looks if he does not   
   wear a face mask. Although he does not have the coronavirus, Mr.   
   Miao, who is of Chinese heritage and grew up in Australia, knows   
   it’s because of one reason: his ethnicity.   
      
   “It makes people like me who are very, very Australian feel like   
   outsiders,” said Mr. Miao, 24, who returned from a trip to China   
   earlier this month and has since seen jokes degrading Chinese   
   people. “It’s definitely invoking a lot of past racial   
   stereotypes.”   
      
   But as the World Health Organization declared a global health   
   emergency after the virus spread to countries including   
   Australia, he is worried about an outbreak of misinformation,   
   panic and xenophobia.   
      
   The virus has killed more than 200 people, with nearly 10,000   
   cases reported, though in Australia there are just a handful of   
   cases, and health officials have said that the risk of catching   
   it for many Australians is low.   
      
   Still, universities have delayed exams, face masks — used only   
   weeks ago against bush-fire smoke — are a common sight, and the   
   government plans to evacuate Australians from the epicenter of   
   the outbreak in China.   
      
   Other responses here in Australia, where the relationship with   
   China is contentious, have taken a more xenophobic bent.   
      
   Some far-right lawmakers polled their followers, asking if   
   Australians should ban Chinese people temporarily from the   
   country. A newspaper in Victoria, The Herald Sun, called the   
   coronavirus a “Chinese Virus” on its front page, prompting over   
   40,000 people to sign a petition demanding an apology. On social   
   media, fake announcements are warning people away from Chinese-   
   populated areas, and memes are making light of early reports   
   that the virus jumped from wild animals to humans.   
      
   “Racism feeds on fear and anxiety,” said Tim Soutphommasane, a   
   former race-discrimination commissioner and now a professor at   
   the University of Sydney. While the virus originated in China,   
   “viral diseases don’t have ethnic, racial or national   
   characteristics,” he said, adding that the misinformation was   
   “alarming.”   
      
   On Wednesday, the government said that it planned to evacuate   
   Australians citizens from the province to Christmas Island, an   
   Australian territory 2,000 miles away from the mainland, to be   
   quarantined for 14 days.   
      
   Editors’ Picks   
      
   You Remember Jessica Simpson, Right? Wrong   
      
   Brad Pitt and the Beauty Trap   
      
   I Quit Sex for 12 Years   
   But many questioned the implications of using Christmas Island,   
   where refugees and asylum seekers have been held, instead of   
   military bases on the mainland.   
      
   It was not an “appropriate” place to quarantine people, Dr. Tony   
   Bartone, president of the Australian Medical Association, said   
   in a television news interview. Faced with the decision, many   
   Australians are opting to stay behind in lockdown.   
      
   Some of the rhetoric has been reminiscent of a time when Chinese   
   people were purposely excluded from the country. “You could read   
   a similar article in the goldfields in 1860s Victoria,” said Jon   
   Piccini, a lecturer in history at the Australian Catholic   
   University.   
      
   As scientists race to develop a vaccine, the virus is likely to   
   continue to spread. Many wonder if it will further perpetuate   
   stereotypes — the same ones that once prompted Australia to ban   
   nonwhites from calling the country home.   
      
   Mr. Miao said he did not blame people for being ignorant, though   
   he added, “I don’t think it’s very fair.”   
      
   Have you noticed or been affected by the fear around the   
   coronavirus? Write to me at nytaustralia@nytimes.com.   
      
   You can read more of our coverage here, or follow our   
   correspondent Chris Buckley, who is reporting from Wuhan, on   
   Twitter.   
      
   Now, on to stories from the week.   
      
   Michelle Elias contributed reporting.   
      
   https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/world/australia/coronavirus-   
   racism-chinese.html   
         
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)