Coronavirus indeed has left a ripple effect across many facets of life but the latest on the list is the discrimination against people of ASEAN descent and this has turned into a case of racial discrimination. The coronavirus is now seen as the ‘Asian Disease’. As Uber and Lyft drivers now reject rides from Asians.
Lilian Wang an Asian American who works in the technology sector confirmed that a Lyft driver had told her that since the outbreak and spread of the virus, he has been rejecting rides from people with Asian names. Lilian tried to get into her Lyft ride and the driver had refused to open the door until her Caucasian friend showed up.
The driver had asked if they just returned from China, and they responded that they only returned from Mexico. The Lyft driver couldn’t hide his relief when he learned they weren’t in China. ‘Okay, so not China’ he responded.
Although the commercial hailing companies claim they have policies against discrimination, this, however, has been on-going amongst their drivers from fear of contracting the disease.
Eric Han a worker at Microsoft retail store in Seattle had his fair share of the racial attack from his Uber driver on Monday. Eric stated he had a cough from the really cold morning and his Uber driver had quickly asked him if he was Chinese or if he has been to China. And after he told the Uber driver he is American, he coldly responded with ‘Whatever you say’.
“I’m not one to take offence very easily so I wasn’t angry, just kind of chuckling under my breath like ‘wow, this is really happening’. Han stated. It didn’t end there; Han was also told by strangers in Seattle to go back to his hometown because they felt he was Asian.
Since there are recorded cases of the coronavirus in more than half a dozen countries, the fear is heightened and increased. CNBC found in their research that loads of people put out in a tweet about not wanting to pick or share a ride with Asians from the fear of contracting the virus.
Indra Andreshak who took a shared ride reported her Lyft driver after he checked the app for the details of the passenger and realized the man’s name is Hero and he looked visibly Asian. The Lyft driver had muttered ‘Hero, Heee-ro, Hero in Chinatown, I hope he doesn’t give me coronavirus’.
Another case was with Myeonghoon Han and his Korean friends. They had to tell the Lyft driver ‘We are not Chinese’ before they got the driver who already waved his hands to show he doesn’t want Han’s friends in his care because they were Chinese to drive them.
Lyft reacted as their spokesman Dana Davis said in a statement ‘We take any allegation of discrimination serious. Monitoring official updates on the global outbreak closely, and taking our cues from international and domestic public health experts.”
Lyft said their priority is to keep both riders and drivers safe and also asked their riders to freely share all their experiences with their safety team. Uber on the other hand in Mexico suspended accounts of 240 users who might have recently come in contact with the coronavirus.