February 28, 2022
Study Addresses Effects of Calling COVID-19 the ‘Chinese Virus’
![Lanier Holt Lanier Holt](/sites/default/files/styles/news_and_events_image/public/Holt.jpg?h=15b6cb79&itok=M7imgTdY)
A new study conducted by Associate Professor Lanier Holt, Ph.D. student Sophie Kjaervik and Professor Brad Bushman has found that calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” – a term rejected by health officials and tied to antagonism against people of Asian descent – did affect views of Americans who saw the term in a news article.
Researchers at The Ohio State University found that people who read the term “Chinese virus” in a fabricated media report about the coronavirus were more likely to later blame China for the pandemic than people who read the same report that used the correct term, “COVID-19.”
The effect was found in participants regardless of their political party and ideology, although the effect was modest.