Racial abuse and bullying during Coronavirus outbreak

The outbreak of Coronavirus over the past months has affected communities at different socioeconomic levels, world-wide. Almost all companies and organizations are currently dealing with the negative impacts of the spread of Coronavirus and trying to adopt the new regulations including social distancing, to minimize the risk of further spread of the disease while maintaining their performance at the highest possible level. For many occupations these new measures equal remote working from home, having online meetings, and possibly taking care of children at home. While professors and lecturers in academia try to seize the chance to transfer lectures to online platforms, read and respond to the manuscripts that have been piling up on their desks, write new grant proposals, the less experienced academics and students probably need more support not to fall out of the track of their research activities.

Unfortunately, these unprecedented circumstances have triggered prejudice and discrimination against individuals of certain origins, a phenomenon also known as xenophobia. In March 2020, the New York Times reported a spike in the cases of bullying against Asians at schools in the USA east coast(ref. 1). The San Francisco State University has found a 50% rise in the number of articles related to anti-Asian discrimination in the period of February 9th and March 7th(ref. 2). In Switzerland, a Taiwanese student from University of Lucerne was mocked by seemingly educated seniors, for being Asian.

Although stigmatization and xenophobia might not be considered extreme, they can easily go too far and turn to active bullying, discrimination, and racism. Many universities have already taken this issue seriously and have provided pathways for reporting the specific cases of inappropriate bullying, or harassing behavior due to Coronavirus. Apart from the apparent discrimination against mainly Asian students, the imposed travel restrictions have created hidden obstacles for the admission of foreign students in the USA or within the European Union(ref. 3). Many students with university admission are denied student Visa and many holding their student Visa are banned from traveling, a situation which limits diversity in academia in the long run.