Plague and Prejudice: A History of Quarantine and Xenophobia
Amid the flurry of social media postings about the coronavirus are comments, memes, and photos with clear racial overtones, mostly directed at Asians.
One person writes on Twitter about wearing a hazmat suit to pick up takeout at their local Chinese restaurant. A Facebook user warns friends, “Don’t eat at any Chinese restaurants!” Media coverage adds to the negative stereotyping, sometimes calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus.”
This is disappointing, but not surprising. Since ancient times, racism and discrimination have been associated with contagious diseases and efforts to thwart their spread.
So far, Americans exposed to the COVID-19 virus have been asked to self-quarantine, but in a few places around the world, governments are enforcing mandatory home quarantine for entire populations, with exceptions for essential workers and needs. As these measures increase, will all groups of people be treated fairly?
Quarantine: A Short History
The word quarantine comes from an Italian word for “forty days” and came into use during the Middle Ages, when merchant ships sailing into a city would be held in port if they had visited areas where contagious diseases were prevalent. However, the practice of isolating victims of disease dates back to ancient civilizations.
In biblical times, diseases were misunderstood and surrounded with superstition. Leviticus 13:4 dictates that people with symptoms of leprosy “shall dwell alone in habitation outside the camp.” No one knew what caused leprosy, but they were aware that the condition spread from person to person.
Throughout history, quarantining has been used for victims of yellow fever, cholera, tuberculosis, measles, polio, AIDS, and other diseases assumed to be infectious. David F. Musto, a professor from Yale School of Medicine, writes, “Quarantine is a marking off, the creation of a boundary to ward off a feared biological contaminant lest it penetrate a healthy population” (98).
Yet, quarantine and other disease control measures have not always been used equitably. Instead, it has often been common to point the blame for illnesses at strangers, minority groups, and social outcasts.
Plague and Prejudice
When outbreaks of bubonic plague, also called the Black Death, occurred throughout Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages, it was obvious that ships were spreading the disease from one port to another. The History Channel describes the disease like this:
The plague arrived in Europe in October 1347, when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. People gathered on the docks were met with a horrifying surprise: Most sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils that oozed blood and pus.
Once established, the plague spread throughout the region, killing entire families and decimating villages. In all, it caused the deaths of some 20 million people in just five years.
The plague was terrifying, not only because of its high rate of contagion and death but also because no could predict when or where it would hit. As a result, people with less status and power in society were often singled out and blamed. To try to prevent contagion, some people acted to “purge their communities of heretics and other troublemakers,” either by exile or more drastic means (“Black Death”). Musto reports that “Jews were suspected of poisoning wells and deliberately spreading plague as hostile acts toward the majority Christian society” (102). Between the years 1348 and 1349, thousands of Jews were killed or driven out of Central Europe (“Black Death”).
Immigrants and Illness
Moreover, having a contagious illness was considered to be a sign of immorality or sin. Sickness in poor and minority groups was considered a divine punishment for wrongdoing or character flaw. When members of upper classes or dominant cultures caught the disease, outsiders were blamed.
From the mid-19th to early-20th centuries, the demographics of the United States changed rapidly due to increased levels of immigration. At the same time, scientific research resulted in a better understanding of pathogens and the spread of disease. But breakthroughs in effective treatments lagged behind and epidemics of diseases such as typhoid fever and cholera were common.
The majority culture in the United States, which was white and Christian, reacted to outbreaks of infections by blaming immigrants. The xenophobia was so strong that laws and policies were written to isolate, quarantine, and even reject certain groups of immigrants.
For example, in the 1870s, Chinese people settling in California were considered “inferior in organic structure” and likely to be carrying and spreading diseases such as malaria, smallpox, and leprosy (Trauner 71–72). Soon, all ships coming from China were automatically quarantined, and some Chinese residents suffering from illness or birth defects were shipped back to China (75). Even immigrants who were long-time residents were targeted. “Whenever a major epidemic threatened San Francisco,” writes Joan B. Trauner, “health officials descended upon Chinatown with a vengeance” (82).
Around the same time on the East Coast of the U.S., immigrants arriving from Europe were routinely screened for diseases at Ellis Island before being allowed entry. Some groups of people received more scrutiny than others. Immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe were considered “undesirable races” and quarantine became a tool to construct a line of defense “around the racially pure” (Musto 109).
Those from poorer countries or immigrants who had booked third class passage were feared the most. During a cholera outbreak in 1893, a national quarantine was suggested for all ships entering the U.S. The Lancaster, PA, Examiner and Express wrote, “Disease is imported not by cabin passengers or even by merchandise, save wool and rags, but by the steerage immigrant and his filthy clothing or personal property” (New York Times Archives).
Segregation within Quarantine
Even when no evidence of disease was present, quarantine was sometimes used to reinforce existing patterns of social and racial segregation.
Around the turn of the 20th century, passengers from ships arriving to Australia often passed through the North Head Quarantine Station, located near Sydney. The facility was set up to house immigrants for a period of time until it was determined they were disease-free. But not all immigrants were treated equally. As soon as they stepped off the ship, the passengers were sorted and assigned quarters according to socioeconomic class and race.
First class passengers had the most amenities and freedom within the facility and were segregated from second class passengers, who in turn were set apart from the third class passengers. Asians were housed in tents and used an outdoor kitchen and crude latrines (Longhurst 594).
This type of systematic discrimination reveals more than a concern for disease; the Australian officials were attempting to guard against the social and racial diversity that immigration might bring.
AIDS and Isolation
We’d like to think we are more enlightened these days, that today we understand that illnesses are caused by bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants, and not by sin, immorality, or the inherent weakness of any group of people. But when the AIDs epidemic first hit the nation, particularly San Francisco, in the 1980s, quarantine practices were used to further discriminate against the two most vulnerable groups that were hit the hardest, gay men and IV drug users, even though early on there was no evidence of contagion by casual contact (Musto 110). Individuals in these groups were called immoral and deserving of their fates.
It wasn’t until Ryan White, a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy from Kokomo, IN, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1984 that public sentiment began to change. A hemophiliac, Ryan caught HIV through a blood transfusion. After he became ill, he was barred from attending school in the fear that he would pass the illness to others. His parents filed a lawsuit, and the issue sparked public debate about scientific evidence and reasonable, effective protections against getting HIV.
The Coronovirus and Reason
Joking around on social media might be an effective coping mechanism for dealing with the fear of the virus and the uncertainty of the days ahead. But Chinese-Americans and Asian immigrants in general are no more likely than anyone else to catch or become carriers of the coronavirus.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to intensify, so will the strategies used to prevent its spread. Closures of schools, cancellations of public gatherings, and asking people to stay home are sensible steps that have been proven effective in past epidemics. It’s likely we will see more restrictions in the near future, including more mandatory quarantines.
But history also shows us that fear of contagion can exacerbate racism and xenophobia and sometimes influence public policy. Careful scrutiny of official action is needed to ensure everyone receives equal treatment.
Works Cited
“Black Death.” History. June 6, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death
Longhurst, Peta. “Quarantine Matters: Colonial Quarantine at North Head, Sydney and Its Material and Ideological Ruins.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20.3 (2016): 589–600.
Musto, David F. “Quarantine and the Problem of AIDS.” The Milbank Quarterly, vol. 64, 1986, pp. 97–117. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3350043. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.
“National Quarantine.” New York Times Archives. January 16, 1893.
Trauner, Joan B. “The Chinese as Medical Scapegoats in San Francisco.” California History, vol. 57, 1 (Spring 1978): 70–87.
