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‘We’re not bringing you the virus’: Asian-American medical workers’ battle with Covid-19 and racism
- Health professionals feel the anguish of being racially targeted because of the coronavirus while toiling to keep people from dying of it
- ‘Despite the fact that I can and have saved lives under stressful conditions, none of this protects me from racist vitriol,’ Dr Amy Zhang says
Reading Time:4 minutes
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Medical student Natty Jumreornvong has a vaccine and protective gear to shield her from the coronavirus. But she couldn’t avoid exposure to the anti-Asian bigotry that pulsed to the surface after the pathogen was first identified in China.
Psychiatry patients have called her by a racist slur for the disease, she said. A bystander spat at the Thai-born student to “go back to China” as she left a New York City hospital where she’s training.
And as she walked there in scrubs on February 15, a man came up to her, snarled “Chinese virus,” took her mobile phone and dragged her on a pavement, said Natty, who reported the attack to police. The investigation is ongoing.
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For health care workers of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, “it seems like we’re fighting multiple battles at the same time – not just Covid-19, but also racism,” said Natty, a student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have faced a tide of harassment and attacks in many settings during the pandemic. But those in health care are feeling the particular, jarring anguish of being racially targeted because of the virus while toiling to keep people from dying of it.
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