From Fear to Hate: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Sparks Racial Animus in the United States

Abstract

We estimate the effect of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on racial animus, as measured by Google searches and Twitter posts including a commonly used anti-Asian racial slur. Our empirical strategy exploits the plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of the first Covid-19 diagnosis across regions in the United States. We find that the first local diagnosis leads to an immediate increase in racist Google searches and Twitter posts, with the latter mainly coming from existing Twitter users posting the slur for the first time. This increase could indicate a rise in future hate crimes, as we document a strong correlation between the use of the slur and anti-Asian hate crimes using historic data. Moreover, we find that the rise in the animosity is directed at Asians rather than other minority groups and is stronger on days when the connection between the disease and Asians is more salient, as proxied by President Trump's tweets mentioning China and Covid-19 at the same time. In contrast, the negative economic impact of the pandemic plays little role in the initial increase in racial animus. Our results suggest that deemphasizing the connection between the disease and a particular racial group can be effective in curbing current and future racial animus.

Vicarious Racism and Vigilance During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mental Health Implications Among Asian and Black Americans

“…31 Qualitatively distinct expressions of racism during the COVID-19 pandemic result in mental health tolls. 29,64,70 Additional studies are needed on the health implications of vicarious racism and racial discrimination vigilance during the COVID-19 pandemic among Asian and Black Americans. More broadly, a need exists for research on health outcomes other than COVID-19 that also represent important public health concerns in these populations.…”

“…26 Other studies of trends in Twitter and Google data indicate an increased use of racist slurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 22,[27][28][29][30][31] Research suggests that increased anti-Asian sentiment during this period is associated with politicians and conservative news outlets blaming China for the pandemic and racializing the disease as the "China virus." 22,32,33…”

COVID-19: A Pandemic of Anti-Asian Cyberhate

“…Victims of hate and harassment linked to the coronavirus have reported physical and verbal attacks, discrimination, and avoidance (Gover et al, 2020). Asians and Asian Americans have been among the most frequently targeted for this type of hate, with victims being murdered, beaten, stabbed, spat on, and verbally assaulted, among other forms of attacks (Donaghue, 2020;Haynes, 2020;Lu & Sheng 2020;Mullis & Glenn, 2020;Ren & Feagin, 2020).…”

Anti-Asian discrimination and the Asian-white mental health gap during COVID-19

“…In this study, we investigate whether Asians in the United States have experienced more mental health symptoms than whites during the COVID-19 pandemic and if so, whether the instances of acute discrimination they have encountered help to explain this disproportionate mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on Asians because research suggests that the rise in the animosity is directed at Asians rather than other minority groups (Lu and Sheng 2020) and that Asians are more likely than other racial or ethnic groups to perceive COVID-19-related discrimination (Liu et al 2020). While several studies have already considered the effect of anti-Asian racism on mental health among the targeted populations (e.g.…”