As international health agencies warn that COVID-19 could become a pandemic, fears over the new coronavirus' spread have activated old, racist suspicions toward Asians and Asian Americans. It's part of a longer history in the United States, in which xenophobia has often been camouflaged as a concern for public health and hygiene.

Three African American ER physicians in Washington, D.C., recount experiences on their wards, where Black patients make up the vast majority of the city's COVID-19 fatalities.