Biden Did Not Ban the Phrase "Wuhan Virus"
The Claim
President Biden issued an executive order to prohibit use of the phrase “Wuhan Virus.”
News posted on
Emerging story
Towards the end of April, claims began to reemerge stating that President Biden had signed an Executive Order prohibiting the use of the words, “Wuhan Virus.” Similar claims circulated in late January, after Biden had signed an executive action to combat racism and xenophobia towards the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
Misbar’s Analysis
It is false to claim that President Biden signed an executive order banning the use of the terms “Wuhan Virus,” or “China Virus.” These posts refer to Biden's executive action from January 26th entitled, "Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.” Nowhere in the document does it mention the phrases in these claims.
The memorandum states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services “should consider the best practices set forth by public health organizations and experts for mitigating racially discriminatory language in describing the COVID-19 pandemic.” No specific “discriminatory language” is stated in the document, though it likely refers to a number of terms used by public officials last year, including former President Trump. His statements are not mentioned in the document either.
The first known case of COVID-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China in December, 2019. By March, as cases multiplied around the world, anti-Asian discrimination followed closely behind. The United Nations reported in October that hate crimes against anti-Asians in the U.S. had reached an “alarming” level, compared to years past. Biden’s executive action was one of several signed by the president during his first days in office, intended to address these incidents.
The World Health Organization’s official guidelines for naming new diseases say to avoid using places in a name because it is stigmatizing and often inaccurate. Their examples of inappropriate name choices include Lyme disease, which had been infecting people long before it was first identified in Lyme, Connecticut; and the Spanish Flu, which did not actually originate from Spain.
