Public sentiment is mixed regarding the new COVID-19 wave in Asia, with a focus on genetic predispositions, scientific discussions, and significant concern over heightened racism against Asian communities. There's varied adherence to COVID-19 precautions in Asia, sparking debates over mask usage and public health measures. Skepticism and frustration about global and regional attitudes towards COVID-19 also prevail.

Asian communities

Public health authorities

Global citizens

Could this be among the reasons why Africa is not being as badly affected, despite the poor medical care in many areas of the continent?

a_common_spring

Interesting. I had thought Europeans were the group most related to Neanderthals.

organikmatter

A recent genetic association study1 identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. A new study2 comprising 3,199 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and controls finds that this is the major genetic risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative). Here, we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of ~50 kb that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by ~50% of people in South Asia and ~16% of people in Europe today.

This is just a small segment of information from a soon to be published article.

BeginsAgains

 I am trying to understand better - the only way someone would know they carry this gene is by genetic testing?  Correct? I’m assuming it’s not like a BRCA gene test for breast cancer that is somewhat commonly used... I guess I’m getting at, how would we know we carry this, and would a provider support testing for it?  Just trying to learn more.

DTO73

So, what would be involved in taking one's DNA, like that which could be downloaded from [Ancestry.com](https://Ancestry.com) as a text file, and finding whether one has this? Is that even a reasonable question?

baloneysandwich

What are the neanderthal values for South America/Latin America? We have some of the highest mortality rates here, have they included this area into the test?

Kikoso-OG

Further reading.  [L. Abi-Rached et al., “The shaping of modern human immune systems by multiregional admixture with archaic humans,” Science, 334:89–94, 2011](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6052/89). Account required but free to set up.

Beelzabub

I just knew this caveman DNA was going to bite me in the ass one day...

AntonDorado

[deleted]

Why has South Asia faired so well then? I am not sure I am ready to say it is all in the governments response. Vietnam and Thailand stick out but there is also China.

MTBSPEC

Anyone seen that study about Neanderthal having acquired the genes for sexes from Sapiens Sapiens horizontally?

🤔

Nashtark

People should really download and read the paper (it's free) - I found this to be a particularly interesting bit:

&gt; It is striking that **the Neanderthal risk haplotype occurs at a frequency of 30% in South Asia whereas it is almost absent in East Asia** (Fig. 3). This extent of difference in allele frequencies between South and East Asia is unusual (p = 0.006, Extended Data Fig. 5) and indicates that it may have been affected by selection in the past. Indeed, previous work has suggested that the Neanderthal haplotype has been positively selected in Bangladesh. At this point, we can only speculate about the reason for this, one possibility being protection against other pathogens. **It is also possible that the haplotype has decreased in frequency in East Asia due to negative selection, perhaps from corona viruses or other pathogens.**

So...a virus like this might have evolved before, possibly in the same place, which might explain why these genes haven't been seen in East Asia?

Astromike23

Affecting Neanderthals explains why it’s so widespread in America.

wingnutzero

I was approached several times walking down the street but I know how to handle myself and I guess it shows. So they backed off.

It’s not just about lifting weights (which helps). It’s about the confidence knowing that you will put your enemy in the ground. And for some reason, they can sense that.

kog4mono75

I am sus of the loud, seemingly affected coughing of non Asian folks when I pass by. When I turn to their direction, they're always looking the other way. I was checking out at Trader Joe's couple of weeks ago when I noticed a dirty look from one of the cashiers. I had my mask not on but under my chin. He was a few aisles over so I rose above his problem. I'm not going to lower myself to his level. Otherwise since this is NY I would've given my rendition of Robert Deniro's Taxi Driver, 'You lookin' at me, you lookin' at me. Are YOU, yes you lookin' at ME???

Current-Ad8450

I'm in NYC and I've gotten randomly called "chink" by a rambling homeless person, or they would say the word "China" at me and my husband. Luckily we haven't been physically attacked. I carry a special keychain with me for those reasons lol.

tidyingup92

By mainly African Americans.  White people were nice to me.  More educated.  Some black person even said.  X probably have us COVID., he probably ate bat and gave it to us. I told him sarcastically  I flew on a 15 hour flight on China over the weekend ate a bat and took another 15 hour flight over the weekend right.  I told him. F u and I said 13/52.  I got lots of harassment by blacks none by whites.  I brought my gun every day to work because I felt scared.  After that I said no more solidarity with BLM ever

Kyletheking69

Racism against Asians has been there for ages and yes Covid has raise that hatred. Asians need to realize it does not matter if you’re korean, Chinese, Vietnamese etc, we are all the same to “them”!  We need to care for one another.

JerryH_KneePads

Of course, but I always reciprocated. A patient said, “I don't want a Chinese person as my nurse.” I laughed in his face and said, “Great, you can go back out there and wait to be called for your treatment.” I made sure that PoS was the last person to be called. I warned him that if he chose another nurse, he would be the last patient to get his chemotherapy, which was 4 hours long. He didn't heed my warning, and I was still trying to be patient with the man. I assure you, he didn't leave until 10:00 pm that night. I was baffled at how ignorant he was. I corrected him that if he was going to insult me, at least get my ethnicity right. (Also, it doesn't matter if I was Chinese or not; no one deserves to be disdained) He called me a “Gook” after, and I asked him, do you know where that term came from? Of course, he didn't. I paid him the favor. I called him a nastier name. During COVID-19, the medical staff did not know what we were up against; it was difficult. We were maneuvering in uncharted waters; while many nurses quit their jobs, the ones that stayed had to step up, so I wouldn't tolerate any disrespect when all I was trying to do was help.

nope, none for me, but that's the benefit of living in an asian majority community. i can't even begin to imagine how much worse it would have been if i still lived in my previous three parts of LA. the more diverse the area, the worst the attacks were.

In my experience down here in Florida, despite all the rightwing propaganda that claimed Asian hate was a black people thing, it *isn't* black people pointing and screaming "Kung Flu" and "go back to China" at me and doing 10ft social distancing in grocery stores even now in 2024. 

It's all european americans, particularly those of English and German heritage.

I'm Chinese, but I'm tan and speak spanish and probably "pass" as latino/native american to a lot of folk so I probably don't get as much shit flinged at me as some other guys. But it's pretty bad down here.

pookiegonzalez

No, I think I only experienced micro aggression when I was walking in the park and an old lady walking towards me put her mask on.

ParadoxicalStairs

Largest Viet population is in Orange County. San Jose is the largest in the bay area.

HashTagFinallyWoke

Forgive but don't forget.


Words to live and die by.

Fooba6

I'm also Vietnamese.  I live in a very liberal suburb and don't venture into the city (Philly) much except for expensive restaurants.  I've only gotten a racist comment one time in the last five years, and it was from a pair of teenagers (like 13).  

I'd be lying if i said i didn't worry about visiting places like New York after hearing the horror stories though.  Luckily, i don't actually like visiting the city.

BeerNinjaEsq

Yes, multiple instances of physical and verbal harassment experienced by myself and my family.

Igennem

Oh yeah. I was in high school so it was really really bad. People looked at me weird in the grocery store. Also this was in Idaho so yeah...

Half Asian girl here who basically presents as a full Asian. I've had a full grown blk male come at me menacingly calling me "trash" and during the early months of COVID being on the news (no mass quarantines yet) I was in office/professional spaces and all the white ppl would move away to the opposite side of the room after I walked in.

notasinglesound

I am really sorry to hear. I am Chinese/ Malaysian 
I feel really bad for the people who go affected by Covid. 

I live in CZ and travel around Budapest / Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Poland a lot so I am very familiar with this region.

During Covid I face some racism such as people giving me stares and friends not wanting to meet me for dinner etc ( in the beginning) but eventually everyone got over it since I still haven’t get Covid (whoop whoop) and they got Covid x 3 times. 

Luckily people keep here to themselves. 
In the past when we all first moved here we don’t speak the language so we faced a lot of racism. But nowadays the younger generation is well integrated and the society has accepted us into the mainstream society.

Most of us in the are invited here as workers in the past. The (north) Vietnamese moved to mostly Prague (cz), Bratislava (Slovakia) &amp; Poland (Warsaw). Every year there is a Tet festival and the Vietnamese community organise events and have some celebrations. There are also a lot of Vietnamese stores and shops in these countries.

The Chinese mostly moved to Budapest (Hungary) 
And southern countries - Spain (Barcelona), Athens - Greece, Lisbon (Portugal) and Milan (Italy). The Chinese government is very involved in these countries 
As they are part of the “BRI” Road and investment. They even have Chinese schools to learn language and foster the Chinese communities here. 

The Koreans only started moving recently and they are mostly concentrated in Prague (CZ), Wrocław (Poland), Zilina (Slovakia)
And Budapest (Hungary).

The Korean immigration has been mostly motivated by Samsung electronics factory and Kia (car company) in these countries. They usually bring their workers from South Korea. Although Poland used to have a lot of North Korean workers as well
In a factory town in Łódź. There are also Korean churches in these countries since Koreans are mostly Christians. The uni also constantly host exchnage programmes with Korean students.

I have been really lucky to live in Europe compare to those who live in America who constantly face threats by other minorities.

Although there are a lot of issues here as well, overall it is quite good for us that chose to live here.

Realistic_Ad3354

Did and still do. What boggles my mind is the people who go to asian areas, like groceries, events, etc and still make remarks. Hell, this past weekend, there was a chinese event, and this  guy just shoved into asians and heard under his breath "gd ch\*nks..." 

Like why do you even come here then?

Herrowgayboi

Nothing more than dirty looks from the whites.

PotatoeyCake

Trailblazertravels

Personally, i was fortunate enough in the particular town i was living in at the time had a surprising amount of people who were actually kinder to me when news of the anti asian attacks came out. Most of it came from older black men and ladies. It honestly blew me back and sort of restored my faith in humanity.


On the flip side i knew one person i grew up with actually lost her life during this time

OK, I can give some insights. I will keep things concise so I won't go into detail but feel free to ask if you have any questions.

First of all, not every region is the same. In East Asia, China is the least cautious among all the regions meaning the majority of the public isn't masking, while Taiwan is the most cautious. Japan and Korea are somewhere in the middle.

In Southeast Asia, it's Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam that are most cautious, places like Malaysia, Indonesia, etc aren't as cautious at all. The entire Southeast Asia as a whole feels less cautious than East Asia, but it's always been trending this way even before mandates were lifted.

Even within the same country, there are places that are more cautious than others. In Japan for instance, average masking rates are very low in Tokyo (I would say 20% on average at this time? But it can reach as high as 60% in places with elderly people), but higher in places where that are more rural and have less foreigners (on average, 40 - 60%).

And then you have different regulations in different countries. AFAIK mask mandates are still active in hospitals in all East Asian regions with the exception of China (because the mandates are controlled on the provincial level) and Singapore. It's no longer active in Malaysia but masking is still very high in medical settings there, but I am not too sure what is going on. I have no idea about the rest.

So in the regions which have mask mandates in medical settings you can expect universal masking or something that is close to it. But of course these are mask mandates and not respirator mandates, so expect to see the bare minimum (surgical masks) being used by both members of the public and healthcare personnel. Thus it's not perfect and there are still HAI (hospital acquired infections) going around but the spread is reduced.

Also it's very hard to come across people using respirators or even elastorespirators in Asia. I would say, you are more likely to find a foreign tourist donning an N95 than a local.

Aura9210

The only people in Asia and SE Asia who are still masking are medical workers and people who deal with the public, such as bus drivers. Nobody else cares about Covid anymore. 

ShanghaiNoon404

Just recently joined reddit and I can chime in with my insights—if still interested.

I live in Indonesia but share the same frustrations with you—of people saying post pandemic this-post pandemic. But I would agree on the "feeling more comfortable in masks" here. I have worn masks regularly at work and whenever I go out since 2020— I do get stares of confusion and questions from friends and coworkers—but thankfully have not been harassed ever while masking here. I have heard that the masking experience in the West is different and not as friendly as it is here in Asia/SE Asia.

And because the general public has believed the lies about Covid given our government and globally basically lol—it is definitely true that masking has decreased significantly here in Indonesia, even more than 50% imo. I think a lot of people still believe that Covid is just a flu here: my friends, family, and even doctors. Honestly I think the public still believes on the Covid-is-droplet nonsense.

But from my observations, the most places I've seen where people still mask are during commute and in hospitals. Public-facing service staff still often mask. Other than that, many have stopped masking in crowded places in general— I am also starting to notice that some doctors and public-facing staff have started to drop masking as well. 

In terms of commuting, I think people wear masks because of the bad pollution and people don't want to get the health effects of inhaling too much pollution. And In terms of hospitals, I still see people masking when visiting but not as much anymore.

Mental_Tarnation1667

I've seen photos in the last 6 weeks that show Thailand's top government officials masking at important events. That was really impressive to me.

Forsaken_Bison_8623

I don't think any high-income country has done so, even in Asia.  But the Asian countries tend to be "culturally safer", many of the populace will subtly do the right things safety-wise (or at least a lot better than the west) without being told or asked.  I certainly feel safer when over there, and I don't think it's entirely in my head.

templar7171

I don't think any country is _good_ now, but

Singapore calls a new covid wave, urges vaccination and mask use.
&lt;https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/s-pore-facing-new-covid-19-wave-vaccination-recommended-especially-for-seniors-ong-ye-kung&gt;

The east Asian democracies are probably best at least keeping an eye on things, and of course not harassing you if you wear a mask.

rainbowrobin

None. At least none I am aware of. Even nations that used to be pretty good about isolating and contact tracing (S. Korea, Japan, etc.) have all quietly stopped.

In Asian countries, even if people aren't masking themselves anymore or as often, you are also less likely to be yelled at, or attacked for wearing a mask. (The bar is low🥲) My family and I have even have issues in the SF bay area of California with this though. My grandfather will get random old guys at the grocery store come up to him asking why the heck he has a mask on and a car dealer picked on him and my mother for it when trying to sell them a car. I was coughed on in 2022 deliberately and I had a cane too. One couple went as far as to try to get me fired when my long covid wasn't as bad in early 2023 because I was wearing a mask. *Thankfully we have laws in CA to protect that currently,* but when I can go out in public I feel on edge in America due to masking and wouldn't in places like Japan. *Tourist heavy areas might be an issue but regardless of covid, I try to avoid large crowds outside of Disneyland.* Japan I also have heard in long covid subs has access to a medication most other countries doesn't have yet aside from Singapore. I don't know how well it works on everyone. I've only read success stories with it improving or getting rid of symptoms. (I think it's called ensitrelvir)

Usagi_Rose_Universe

Rich neighborhoods and filthy wealthy school districts in America. They take it seriously. They overhauled their HVAC systems. They have CO2 monitors in classrooms that report levels to parents daily. They use the drugs, from experimental to definitive. They're putting shit in their noses. They have ultraviolet filters on their ceilings. They do all this so they don't need to mask. I don't think any government feels the need to enforce covid safety because its donors are often already in the know. The best you can find at actual attainable levels are covid safe bubbles or covid conscious blocs, which are upheld by members of community, small businesses taking strong stands, and small and receptive school districts. I don't know if any remain in 2024, but last year, I knew of several in the US and Canada. 


On Asian countries masking well... I just know that a lot of Japanese people came out and condemned the Japanese body and government for its attitude towards covid. It's culturally appropriate to mask while symptomatic with illness there, but many stick to the shit blue masks; and many think it is a foreign bug that pure Japanese blooded people don't need to worry about. As one person put it, I recall, "Japanese people are great about upholding rules (like wearing a mask while sick)... but are horrible about taking on new rules and regulations, like shelter-in-place, which didn't work so well there." I don't know how China or Thailand or other places fare.

hakadoodle

we are all SSSHHHTILL SSHHHO SSSHHHICK DUE to the COVID-19 thinning process

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from someone who lives in HK - no one is really talking about it here, usually if there's cause for concern the local  government will be very proactive

sluttynoodle_

Its treated like a common cold here in asia now

Substantial-Bee-6324

We also got it again (3rd time, Switzerland) about 3 weeks ago, it's going around again.

Puzzleheaded-Pen4413

likelywitch

WheyTooMuchWeight

For me, the questions are:

* Is this a new strain?

* Is this a issue with the particular vaccines used in these areas?

ahothabeth

This is just clickbait for “moneycontrol.com”

BlackandRead

The Thai news station has been reporting on several deaths due to COVID recently

long_strange_trip_67

No-Ganache7998

I mean, it's basically a slightly stronger common cold at this point.

10Years_InThe_Joint

Roaddog113

A new wave of COVID-19 is impacting several countries across Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and Thailand, with significant increases in case numbers. The surge is being managed with updated vaccines and standard health precautions.

COVID-19 Surge in Asia

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