From M’land Spouses to Nursing Staff: Discrimination Is an Illness

 From M’land Spouses to Nursing Staff: Discrimination Is an Illness

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

March 6, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

People feel panicky toward the epidemic situation, which is a natural response to an unknown scenario. However, if we show discrimination against people of different nationalities, identities or occupations because of the epidemic situation without the slightest sympathy, this is precisely an illness and even a contagious virus.

News has been spreading in recent days in Taiwan about discrimination against medical and nursing personnel, mainly focusing on nursing staff. The reason is that in the over a dozen recently confirmed cases in the country, the number of those that occurred in hospitals occupied an extremely high ratio; nursing staff have become the high-risk, most easily vulnerable link in the first defense of the fight against the epidemic.

Wuhan lost control because of the epidemic situation, which spread to the entire world; the overwhelming majority of Wuhan citizens were innocent victims. If because of this we discriminate against our countrymen stranded in Wuhan, then that would be stupid and cold-blooded. If we didn’t let go even women and children, and even classify and reclassify "Mainland spouses" and their children, then that would be negating humanity. Some, nevertheless, have seized the opportunity to churn up winds and light flames, creating hatred and discrimination; this does not provide an iota of help to epidemic prevention.

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