On May 15, 2020, the U.S. House approved the $3 trillion HEROES Act, which contains a second round of coronavirus relief aid for state and local governments, and for American taxpayers who are struggling due to the pandemic. Although the bill passed in the House, it is unlikely to be approved by the Republican-dominated Senate. Nonetheless, many Americans, about 20 million, are still waiting for their stimulus checks from the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27, 2020.

Included in the group of U.S. citizens still waiting for the first round of relief aid are residents of Puerto Rico who have yet to receive their stimulus checks. In an interview with MSNBC on April 25, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said, “No one in Puerto Rico has received the $1200 from the federal government. We’re having problems with a local $500 check that the governor said was going to be distributed.”

On a May 19 update on the COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments (EIP), the Social Security Administration said they anticipate “that beneficiaries in the territories could begin receiving their EIP in early June.” June is a long time to wait to receive aid that is necessary right now. As of May 23, 276,737 Puerto Ricans have filed for unemployment since March 14—a little more than a quarter of their labor force.

The coronavirus pandemic is not the only crisis that Puerto Rico is facing as they are slowly recovering from Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in September 2017. A 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico on May 2, displacing at least 50 families and knocking out power—power which has yet to be fully restored since the total blackout caused by Hurricane Maria. The island has been without full power for 981 days and counting. The displaced families have formed impromptu camps: living in tents and lacking “even basic supplies, including sufficient food,” according to Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization.

Months after the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the island on January 7, “thousands of people are still slumbering each night under camping tents, on cots, in their cars and in enormous open tents that serve as government shelters,” according to The New York Times. Their situations are made more dire by the coronavirus pandemic.

Experts worry the pandemic will threaten Puerto Rico’s health care system that is already in crisis. Before the outbreak, access to medical resources and services was limited. NBC News reported that, “according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, 72 of the island’s 78 municipalities are considered to be medically underserved and face ‘unmet health care needs.’” The limited number of physicians and lack of funding for hospitals, clinics and labs make it more difficult to treat patients who have fallen ill from a virus that disproportionately affects communities of color.

Asiya Haouchine

is an Algerian-American writer who graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 2016, earning a BA in journalism and English. She was an editorial intern and contributing writer for Warscapes magazine and the online/blog editor for Long River Review. She is currently studying for her Master’s in Library and Information Science. @AsiyaHaou

Sensationalism and the 24-hour news cycle aided in killing journalistic integrity, and it also aids in perpetuating racial bias, fear, and panic. Constant reporting forces news stations to air stories that will maintain a captive audience. There is only so much news (or so many sides to a story) that can be reported on in a day. This forces 24-hour news channels to come up with content that will fill time slots and keep the audience tuned in. Since the ongoing coverage is usually focused on one particular subject or event, the audience is subjected to a constant barrage of narrowly focused facts and opinions. As a result, fear turns into panic, which can often lead to deadly results.

Coronavirus is the latest epidemic that is fueling racism, panic, and mistrust. This fear is exacerbated by sensational news and 24-hour reportage. Amidst “doomsday prepping” and the price gouging of masks and hand sanitizer, is the worst result of overblown news coverage of the coronavirus: physical and verbal attacks fueled by racism. Racist attacks against Asians in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and across Europe have been linked to coronavirus. Overblown news coverage of coronavirus, along with ignorance and misinformation, has helped lead to this spike in racist assaults across the globe.

One video making rounds on Twitter shows a New York subway passenger spraying what appears to be a can of Febreze in the direction of an Asian passenger while shouting at him to move away from him. Tanny Jiraprapasuke, who is Thai American, uploaded a video on Facebook of a xenophobic rant directed toward her on the Los Angeles Metro. Singaporean student Jonathan Mok posted a detailed account and pictures of his battered face on Facebook after he was assaulted on Oxford Street in London.

It does not help that some media purposely (or carelessly) enforce racial bias. On March 1, the New York Post published a story about the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Manhattan. They tweeted a link to the story along with an image of an Asian man on Main Street in Flushing, Queens, which has a large Asian American population. New York’s first confirmed case of coronavirus is a woman in her late 30s. On the same day, the New York Times used a photograph of two older Asian women wearing medical masks on a Facebook post about the same first coronavirus case in New York. The New York Post and the New York Times’s decision to use photographs of Asian Americans helped further perpetuate harmful stereotypes and fearmongering against Asians.

Roger Keil, a professor in the environmental studies department at York University said, “To combat racism, people in the public eye, including politicians and media outlets, have to begin by uncoupling the disease from its origin point.” If the media continues to be irresponsible by reporting in a way that racializes epidemics, xenophobic and racist attacks like those related to the coronavirus, SARS, and Ebola will continue to plague our societies. Coronavirus is not an excuse to discriminate. It certainly does not.