From where we see the other

In 1918-1920 the influenza pandemic became the deadliest pandemic in history, the death toll estimated between 20 million and 50 million, infecting about a third of the global population. The H1N1 influenza virus was known in the USA as the Spanish Flu because Spanish newspapers were the first to report the outbreak. Spain protested that its people were being falsely stigmatized. During that time different countries labeled differently, pointing fingers at each other.  In Senegal, it was named 'the Brazilian flu',  in Brazil 'the German flu', and in Poland, it was known as 'the Bolshevik disease'.  “Spain also called the virus the “French flu,” claiming French visitors to Madrid had brought it. “Germans called it the Russian Pest,” wrote Kenneth C. Davis in his book, “More Deadly Than War.” In a precursor to today’s crisis, “The Russians called it the Chinese Flu.”1

“The name “Spanish flu” may have also reinforced a conflation between immigrants and disease at a time when white Americans descending from northern Europe held strong biases against immigrants from China and parts of eastern and southern Europe, including Spain. Just a couple of years before the 1918 flu outbreak, Italian immigrants on the East Coast were blamed for a polio outbreak, though in fact there was no evidence of an outbreak either in Italy or at Ellis Island. And for decades, white Americans associated Chinese immigration with a host of diseases, and used public health as an excuse to discriminate against them.” 2

In 2020 we experienced Covid-19, and as a society we confronted the labeling of the virus across party lines. The virus was known as Chinese Flu or Wuhan Flu joining a long history of associating diseases with certain countries—a tradition that led to ethnic and racial discrimination, affecting efforts to effectively handle the public health crises.  

 1 Shafer, Ronald G. “Spain Hated Being Linked to the Deadly 1918 Flu Pandemic. Trump's 'Chinese Virus' Label Echoes That.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Mar. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/03/23/spanish-flu-chinese-virus-trump/. 

2 Little, B. (2020, March 20). Trump's 'Chinese' Virus Is Part of a Long History. Time. https://time.com/5807376/virus-name-foreign-history/.