# Racism and "Wuhan virus" - only because Wuhan is a fairly well known large city? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 19, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807 "2020-03-19T15:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/301 "2020-03-31T16:34:11Z")
You got it **Mijin** , \*\*septimus \*\*actually missed that I concentrate on the “way out” Trump gave himself, that it was ‘the Democrats are claiming that Trump was doing a bad job’ as the hoax. The point I made was that even that stupid explanation from Trump does not make it a Hoax, Trump did lie. Trump did and continues to do a bad job. The reason why Forbes was mentioned was to point out that a conservative outfit like Forbes was having none of what Trump said, for what I think are good reasons: Forbes (again not what I said, but just to show how even some conservatives see it) is in reality saying to Trump: ‘What [del]Capitalistic tools[/del] fools you think we are? Your base clearly got the message that it was a hoax, and your later equivocations, while making kinda sense, are just geared to convince others less cultish to “get it right”. Problem is that [your base continues to get the meaning you actually wanted to told them](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-polarization/americans-divided-on-party-lines-over-risk-from-coronavirus-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN20T2O3) [and that is shown by the actions you took then](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/21/trump-us-coronavirus-warning-china), rather than your words.’ ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/302 "2020-03-31T19:28:22Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I live in China. In my city (Shanghai) basically everything is open again, with the exception of schools. Restaurants, malls, gyms, museums, factories…apart from the face masks it looks like business as usual. > > I understand that for some people, the only thing they know about China is “the Chinese government lies”. Which is true; the Chinese government has, and still does, lie. > They may well be lying about the total number of people that died due to this. > > But pretending large numbers of people with corona don’t have it is beyond even their powers. Plus it doesn’t even make sense; if community spread is still happening, why reopen the malls and wilfully make the problem much worse? What’s the point? There are reports from others in the Wuhan tri-cities about the number of urns being delivered, the 4 major crematoria running nonstop around the clock, and social media posts being censored from primary sources to which I give a similar amount of belief as I give your post about Shanghai. I can only guess at the point, but it is probably the same as most every action the CCP takes- to keep itself in power. (Note: My disdain for the CCP does not extend to the people of China.) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/303 "2020-04-01T04:30:47Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > There are reports from others in the Wuhan tri-cities about the number of urns being delivered, the 4 major crematoria running nonstop around the clock, and social media posts being censored from primary sources to which I give a similar amount of belief as I give your post about Shanghai. Crematoria in China are always extremely busy. They seem to prefer a few mega-crematoria run like production lines. It was very strange to attend a funeral here during regular times. Anyway, having said that, let me say I agree with the point that the death total in Hubei may well be higher than the government has reported. But what do you mean by “a similar amount of belief as I give your post about Shanghai”? You think I’m lying or a CCP plant? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/304 "2020-04-01T05:00:17Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > There are reports from others in the Wuhan tri-cities about the number of urns being delivered, the 4 major crematoria running nonstop around the clock, and social media posts being censored from primary sources to which I give a similar amount of belief as I give your post about Shanghai. Believe what you want to believe comrade. Let’s see your reports and where they come from. Or are these just random Facebook posts from teh trump spin machine or from putin. Couldja stop with the CCP please. I hadn’t seen that used outside of an academic setting for decades, and suddenly 3 weeks ago it explodes across the media about like the coronavirus. It is painfully obvious that you have no real knowledge or personal ties to China. You lack the knowledge for what is normal operating conditions in China versus what is abnormal. Factories in Wuhan are reopening. They are freaking paranoid about having a case. If there is a person with a fever (and they are tested multiple times per day), at a minimum: -within 2 hours have to report to the Chinese CDC -person with a fever goes to a center for testing -the shift goes into quarantine for 2 weeks -line gets shut for days for deep cleaning -requires recertification to reopen costs a fuckload of money to do the above. Thankfully, so far, that has not occurred at the dozens of factory complexes at my old company, including one with 15,000 employees in Wuhan (now is a fraction of that as they are slowly allowed to ramp). Is China 100% accurate? Never Is the covid 19 case reporting accurate for the trend? Probably Is there evidence of wide spread death in the streets? no (I will say it again, I have deeply personal reasons to dislike and not trust the Chinese government. But let’s at least make an attempt to call balls and strikes. There’s tons of shit you can legitimately criticize the Chinese government beyond the handful of talking points you parrot…) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/305 "2020-04-01T06:29:03Z")
In yesterday’s _Washington Post_, [President Trump is quoted](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/31/fireside-chat-trump-should-deliver/) at different stages of the pandemic. I’ll excerpt that here to debunk my own confused complaint: > [@Donald J. Trump](#): > > The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We have it totally under control. I’m not concerned at all… We pretty much shut it down… Doesn’t spread widely at all in the United States because of the early actions that myself and my administration took. > > Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away… The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. This is their new hoax. > > Whatever happens, we’re totally prepared… We are so prepared like we never have been prepared. Taking early intense action, we have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the United States… > > We have very little problem in this country. We only have five people. We only have 11 cases. Out of billions of people, 15 people… > > … The tests are all perfect. Anybody that wants a test can get a test. The tests are beautiful. We have a tremendous testing setup. > > I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. We are very close to a vaccine. A matter of months… > > We’re the ones that gave the great response. I’d rate it a 10. We’ve done a fantastic job. I think they should be appreciative. Gallup just gave us the highest rating. The highest on record. > > This blindsided the world! Who could have ever predicted a thing like this? This was something that nobody has ever thought could happen to this country. > > I’ve always known this is a real, this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously. > > It was nobody’s fault. No, just things that happened. I don’t take responsibility at all. He does seem to call the epidemic a “hoax” but it’s slightly ambiguous. In any event, every single sentence he says in the excerpt is a lie. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/306 "2020-04-01T08:02:53Z")
[Here’s a look at the U.S. response to this pandemic.](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/trump-coronavirus-politics-us-health-disaster) In the last post I pushed my luck on excessive excerptation, so here’s just a single quote: > [@Ron Klain](#): > > “The US response will be studied for generations as a textbook example of a disastrous, failed effort. What’s happened in Washington has been a fiasco of incredible proportions.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/307 "2020-04-02T02:45:10Z")
Conspiracymongers have turned the arrest of three accused espionage agents acting on behalf of China into evil virus creators. [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charles-lieber-arrested-coronavirus/) [FactCheck](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/no-link-between-harvard-scientist-charles-lieber-and-coronavirus/) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/308 "2020-04-02T05:08:28Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Conspiracymongers have turned the arrest of three accused espionage agents acting on behalf of China into evil virus creators. > > [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charles-lieber-arrested-coronavirus/) > > [FactCheck](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/no-link-between-harvard-scientist-charles-lieber-and-coronavirus/) Really, at this point they may as well be saying that Fu Manchu created the virus in his laboratory beneath the Forbidden City as part of his dastardly scheme to subjugate the white race once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/309 "2020-04-03T06:06:16Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Magiver, in case you missed it, today Ohio has 1,653 cases (+516 cases since yesterday) and 29 deaths. I take no pleasure in pointing out it is growing fast in your neck of the woods. Magiver, in case you missed it, Ohio now has 2902 cases with 81 deaths. trumpy doing a great job, no one could have done better? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/310 "2020-04-03T06:30:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Really, at this point they may as well be saying that Fu Manchu created the virus in his laboratory beneath the Forbidden City as part of his dastardly scheme to subjugate the white race once and for all. Lol And it was a stroke of genius to let it spread in China first. _It’s the last thing anyone would think_. It removes any suspicion, plus it makes the US government look bad when they inevitably bungle the response, despite not being the origin. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/311 "2020-04-04T03:44:55Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Lol > And it was a stroke of genius to let it spread in China first. > _It’s the last thing anyone would think_. > It removes any suspicion, plus it makes the US government look bad when they inevitably bungle the response, despite not being the origin. Shush, the conspiracy theorists are gonna see this post and think it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/312 "2020-04-05T06:05:52Z")
Remember about Forbes reporting that the medical ships being positioned at hot spot might not be a great idea? > **[Coronavirus patients delivered to hospital ship Comfort in New York by...](https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus-patients-delivered-comfort-ship-new-york-mistake?ICID=ref_fark)** > > EXCLUSIVE - Multiple patients infected with coronavirus-19 were transferred to the hospital ship Comfort from the Javits Center in New York by mistake, three U.S. officials tell Fox News. > [@](#): > > Coronavirus patients delivered to hospital ship Comfort in New York by mistake: US officials Trying to keep people with other health conditions in a confined space safe from contagion was going to be hard. When testing (if available) takes days to find out if a patient with an unrelated condition has Covid-19 too. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/313 "2020-04-08T15:05:30Z")
[Guess who has started spreading the conspiracy theory that the WHO is in Beijing’s pocket.](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/trump-threatens-deny-funding-world-health-organization-200408012719572.html) ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/314 "2020-04-09T20:05:45Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Crematoria in China are always extremely busy. They seem to prefer a few mega-crematoria run like production lines. > It was very strange to attend a funeral here during regular times. > > Anyway, having said that, let me say I agree with the point that the death total in Hubei may well be higher than the government has reported. > > But what do you mean by “a similar amount of belief as I give your post about Shanghai”? You think I’m lying or a CCP plant? What? No. I mean they are in the Wuhan area, and should know as much as you do about the Shanghai area. Their contention that the crematoria are running 24/7 when before the outbreak it was normal day hours has been backed up by US intelligence, also. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/315 "2020-04-10T03:50:08Z")
OK. What I forgot to say regarding the crematoria is also that of course we would expect substantially increased throughput right now. Because not only was there an uptick in deaths where coronavirus was directly or indirectly the cause (_indirectly_, because of an overstrained medical system). But more importantly because all the crematoria were shut for 2 months. And like I say, they’re very busy places during normal times. So the observation about crematoria being super busy, in itself is not particularly significant, unless it’s also paired with an analysis of how busy they _should be_ right now. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/316 "2020-04-10T04:57:39Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > Their contention that the crematoria are running 24/7 when before the outbreak it was normal day hours has been backed up by US intelligence, also. Cite? Again, unless we know what the usual run rate was, what the current rate is, how long of down time there was during the quarantine, etc, it’s a single data point that doesn’t say much of anything. Show me the data please. ---
**Author:** ![razordance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47774/32.png) [@razordance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/razordance)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/318 "2020-09-16T23:35:40Z")
Fun fact: The “Spanish flu” epidemic actually originated in the U.S. It was called “Spanish” because the Spanish press, not being under wartime censorship, was the first to report on it. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/319 "2020-09-19T02:49:15Z")
Why yes. As a matter of fact I have a list of viruses named after places. [Enjoy](https://saidit.net/s/Lists/comments/41dp/viruses_named_after_places_partial/) ---
**Author:** ![razordance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47774/32.png) [@razordance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/razordance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/320 "2020-09-19T04:31:20Z")
Actually, I don’t think it’s true that “Wuhan is fairly well known as a large city” in the U.S. Most Americans would be hard-pressed to pick out even the whole of China on a map. During colonial times, a British officer complained that the (Protestant-Biblicist) colonists seemed to know the geography of Palestine better than the geography of England, and there seems to have been little improvement since then of the geographical knowledge of the average American. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807.md?page=15)