As a self-professed germaphobe, the spread of COVID-19 has been distressing for me, to say the least. My mother, well aware of my quirks, recently sent me several masks with a note saying: “Wear when you go out.”
I have yet to use one.
Not because I’m irresponsible and feel that my (relative) youth protects me from the worst of the disease. No, on the contrary, I’m deeply scared. Not so much of the virus, but of being a target of a racist attack. A report by the FBI warned that “hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to the spread of coronavirus disease … endangering Asian American communities.”…