At a time when violence against Asian Americans is on the rise, a new UCSF study shows a link between online hate and the first time former President Donald Trump used the term "Chinese virus" in a tweet.
Researchers said this points to the need to use neutral language when labeling a disease.
It was a year ago this week when the term "Chinese virus" was first used in a Presidential tweet.
After that, the study found users who adopted #chinesevirus were more likely to pair it with overtly racist hashtags, like #disgustingchinese, #commieflu or #yellowmanfever.
Researchers chose to look at hashtags rather than tweet contents because they said hashtags have been shown to be a predictor of the occurrence of hate crimes.
Dr. Yulin Hswen, UCSF assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, told KCBS Radio she’s appealing to politicians, medical researchers and social media users to not use such stigmatizing language.
"Diseases should not be attached to nations or to a racial or ethnic group because they have repercussions on people’s beliefs about that particular community and as a result can be translated into real world crimes," she said.
Dr. Hswen said that now is the time for counter messaging, not just from celebrities or community leaders but from governmental agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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