Close-up image of Trump's notes shows he crossed out 'corona' for 'Chinese'

A close up of President Donald J. Trumps notes shows where Corona was crossed out Corona and replaced with Chinese Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic during a briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Thursday, March 19, 2020 in Washington, DC. less A close up of President Donald J. Trumps notes shows where Corona was crossed out Corona and replaced with Chinese Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus ... more Photo: The Washington Post/The Washington Post Via Getty Im Photo: The Washington Post/The Washington Post Via Getty Im Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Close-up image of Trump's notes shows he crossed out 'corona' for 'Chinese' 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

President Donald Trump has gone out of his way to refer to the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus" in recent days, a terminology shift that has prompted accusations of racism.

On Thursday, a Washington Post reporter tweeted an image of the president's notes prior to a White House presser, revealing that someone scratched out the "corona" in "coronavirus" and wrote in "Chinese."

The tweet went viral, and the "Chinese virus" debate continued to dominate media discourse for yet another day. John Yang, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told NBC News that the "use of this term by him and others even in the last couple of weeks have led to a noticeable incline in hate incidents that we are seeing."

Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out "Corona" and replaced it with "Chinese" Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House. #trump #trumpnotes pic.twitter.com/kVw9yrPPeJ — Jabin Botsford (@jabinbotsford) March 19, 2020

The president has argued it is necessary to refer to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" or the "Wuhan virus" since the Chinese Communist Party is ramping up its efforts to blame the United States for the virus. Chinese officials have falsely claimed members of the United States Army introduced the virus to Wuhan in October.

"China tried to say at one point — maybe they stopped — that it was caused by American soldiers," Trump said. "That can’t happen. That is not going to happen, as long as I am president. It comes from China.”

Others, including Graeme Wood of The Atlantic, argue that the whole debate is a waste of time as Trump is using the term to distract the American media from the administration's failures responding to the pandemic.

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang concurred, tweeting a link to the article with the comment, "Distracting us from a total failure of leadership is impossible in this case."

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Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting