A novel coronavirus has caused panic across the world after originating from Wuhan, China.
The term “novel” refers to the fact that this strand of virus was not been previously detected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In late December, WHO was alerted to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, according to Public Health Canada (PHC).
The virus causing the pneumonia did not match any known viruses, and on Jan. 7, China confirmed it as 2019-nCov.
Coronaviruses are found in both humans and animals.
2019-nCov is part of a family of viruses that can cause illness that range from the common cold to more serious respiratory infections, such as bronchitis, pneumonia or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to the Ontario government.
The symptoms are often mild and flu-like and include fever, cough and difficulty breathing.
As of Jan. 31, there are four confirmed cases of 2019-nCov in Canada – three in Ontario and one in British Columbia, according to Public Health Canada.
The three cases in Ontario remain “in isolation at home and are in good health,” acccording to David Jensen, media relations co-ordinator of the Ministry of Health, in an email statement.
From animals to humans
“Every organism has viruses that attack it,” said Earl Brown, a microbiology professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa.
Essentially, an animal coronavirus is a virus suited to animals and has been with them for a long period of time. Each virus is generally host specific, explained Brown.
2019-nCov was originally a virus found in bats and because of certain circumstances, has found its way into people and, has the ability to impact and spread through person to person contact, said Brown.
The most important circumstances: crowding and exposure to animals with coronaviruses.
Generally, humans would not have the opportunity to interact with animals such as bats, however wildlife is considered a delicacy in China and, as a result, the virus jumped into humans, explained Brown.
“Crowding is always an issue. It increases the opportunity for spread – things would not likely spread if you weren’t crowded,” said Brown.
Viruses need these cycle transmissions in order to not go extinct, “they have to infect people or animals to live,” explained Brown.
However, much still remains to be discovered about the virus.
The source of the outbreak and the extent of which it has spread still needs to be found, according to WHO.
Over 4,500 cases have been confirmed worldwide, with the majority of them in China.
Detection and Treatment
The first sign that there’s a new viral infection to health-care workers?
“They get people who are definitely ill with pneumonia and the antibiotics don’t work,” said Brown.
The solution is intensive care treatment and combinations of existing medication.
“It seems like 25 per cent of the people who get this virus are severely ill. So they need life support.”
Hospitals will use advanced respirators to assist the lung function of the patient.
“They found some drugs that were working on SARS a little bit … there’s drugs that have been used for HIV and for influenza before and they’re throwing cocktails at these patients and hoping that that may improve,” said Brown.
2019-nCov has a death rate of about two per cent, compared to influenza’s 0.1 per cent death rate.
“When you get into two per cent, you start to see a big effect … you don’t want to have to deal with a pathogen with a mortality rate that high.”
History of anti-Chinese racism in Canada
Since the outbreak of 2019-nCov, discriminatory attitudes about the Chinese have been on the rise. However, this type of racism against people of Chinese nationality is nothing new in Canada.
“Fundamentally, before the late 1940s there was a whole system of legal discrimination against people of, defined in law, as being of Chinese race,” said Timothy Stanley, a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa with a specialization in the history of racism in Canada.
“At one count there were 114 pieces of provincial legislation that discriminated against people of Chinese race,” said Stanley.
An important aspect in the process of “popular racism against the Chinese” is often assuming people are newcomers. There is a continual assumption that people of Asian descent are “foreigners who do not belong here,” explained Stanley.
The history of legislation in British Columbia shows a trend in discrimination against Chinese people that still rings true today.
“It [legislation and state formation] developed notions of Canadian nationalism, directly tied to notions of European-ness and whiteness. Even in terms of immigrants who are of European origin that somehow they belong here, whereas … those others–Asians, Africans, and even to some extent Indigenous peoples–don’t.”
“Sometimes we assume that an incident like the coronavirus leads to racism. It rather gives the existing racism a target,” said Stanley.
“There’s also long, long established popular stereotypes of people of color, including people of Asian origin, as being somehow unclean, as being disease ridden. We see it in the 19th century, where the Chinese were believed to be carriers of things like cholera and other diseases.”
However, the issue is not a misunderstanding of others and their cultures, said Stanley.
“Based fundamentally racisms are a kind of exclusion.”
This type of exclusion allows for the othering of individuals, such as people of Chinese origin. People can justify their views and behaviours by having an “us” and a “them.”
It’s not about where it came from, you need to be educated on the issue, said Noor Masad, co-ordinator of the Racialized and International Student Experience (RISE) Centre.
“Everyone’s looking for an excuse … as soon as China is mentioned people take that as a segway into making memes about it.”
“It’s like someone saying, ‘Oh, you just came from Africa, you have Ebola.’ It creates that segway,” said Masad.
Ottawa’s Situation
There are currently no confirmed cases of 2019-nCov in the Ottawa area.
However, on Feb. 4 Carleton University’s President Benoite-Antoine Bacon sent out an email to the school addressing the virus.
“At this time, the health risks to our community remain low, but we are monitoring the situation very carefully, and continue to follow the advice of public health organizations and experts in the field,” read the email.
The university created a frequently asked questions website about the virus for students and faculty to consult.
The risk to Ontario currently remains low, according to Jensen.
However, the Ontario government expects the “overall number of Ontarians who will be tested for 2019 novel coronavirus to increase as authorities continue to screen and test individuals who meet the current case definition which include symptoms and travel history to Hubei province China,” said Jensen.
In the the email that was sent from President Bacon there was also mention of discrimination against the Chinese community on campus and in Ottawa, “we must continue to support each other–and in particular all members of the Chinese community–with respect and care.”
Feature image by Tim Austen.
