A nurse working for the National Health Service was assaulted and racially abused by a couple while she was on her way to an overtime shift to help her colleagues in combating the coronavirus outbreak.
Already "mentally shattered" form risking her life by working long hours amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Reizel Quaichon experienced extreme shock due to the incident.
On her Facebook post, Reizel shared how she was pushed aside and was called profane words in what she referred to as an inhumane incident. She narrated how she was racially abused at a train station while she was on her way to a night shift at the hospital.
Reizel said that a man elbowed her on the rib and pushed her to the side while his female partner shouted a racist comment. The gist of the comment was the couple implying that at least they were white insinuating that Reizel's race made her inferior to them.
Reizel also expressed her frustrations with some people who seem to feel the need to impose hatred and fear amid the crisis that the world is currently facing. She voiced out how healthcare workers, doctors, and nurses are risking their lives in order to help control the outbreak and stay on the frontline of this battle despite the limited resources.
A call for solidarity despite racial differences
The incident also prompted Reizel to appeal to others that the coronavirus outbreak should not be used as an excuse to discriminate and also encouraged everyone to work together in battling the virus that has infected tens of thousands worldwide. She also plead that people be more respectful of healthcare frontliners since the pandemic has taken a mental and physical toll on them.
She also stressed how the virus would go away and people recover but the effects of discrimination will be permanent. She expressed how the experience had a huge impact on her both mentally and physically, sharing how she used to brush off the snides in the previous months as ignorance.
Furthermore, she added that the virus is also testing people's humanity, demanding that they wake up and realize that the outbreak, no matter where it originated is not an excuse to look down on other races.
She also said that in this trying time, people should be working together instead of creating racial segregation. Also adding that with the limited resources everyone's cooperation is needed in facing the COVID-19 crisis.
Since sharing her experience on social media, Reizel's video has been shared over 10,000 times and has gone viral. People expressed their sympathies to Reizel and condemned what was done to her.
Some people expressed how it upsets them that humanity has reached a point that a virus has brought out the bad side of people. They also expressed how sorry they were for Reizel who was one of the heroes who are in the frontlines fighting the pandemic and still got disrespected due to her color.
The coronavirus outbreak also broke out a huge hatred on Chinese and Asians after the virus emerged from Hubei Province, China.
