As the spread of the latest coronavirus starts to slow in China and South Korea, the disease is making its way into elite circles in the U.S. Rick Cotton, the head of the Port Authority in New York and New Jersey announced Monday that he had contracted it. New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who has declared a state of emergency, has said that he may have also been in contact with Cotton while he was contagious. And a string of Republican senators and congressmen all came in contact with at least one coronavirus patient at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)—where attendees mocked the outbreak as an attempt by Democrats to smear Donald Trump. Some of those congressmen reportedly interacted with the president before they self-isolated.

One of those Republican congressmen was representative Paul Gosar of Arizona, formerly best-known as the man whose siblings put out a political ad telling people not to vote for him. When Gosar announced Sunday that he was entering self-isolation for 14 days—the period of time it takes to develop symptoms—he called the disease the "Wuhan virus," a reference to the Chinese city where the outbreak originated—as of Tuesday, the disease has spread to more than 100 countries, and in the U.S. people have tested positive in 36 states and Washington, DC. In response to Gosar's comments, Democratic politicians and liberal groups chastised him, for using a racist phrase instead of the name scientists are using.

"Coronavirus" is an umbrella term that covers a lot of different viruses, from the common cold to SARS, which is why the resulting disease from this particular strain is referred to as Coronavirus Disease-2019, or COVID-19 for short. The WHO says the name "was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatization," and there are real consequences to linking COVID-19 to Chinese people. Just last week, A 23-year-old student from Singapore studying in London was attacked just by a man who reportedly said, "I don't want your coronavirus in my country." Before that, the Asian American Journalists Association issued a statement asking news organizations "to avoid fueling xenophobia and racism that have already emerged since the outbreak." Along with warning "against blanket use of Chinatown images that reinforce stereotypes and create a sense of 'otherness,'" the AAJA specifically referred to World Health Organization guidelines "discouraging the use of geographic locations when naming illnesses because it could stigmatize the people living there." In fact, the WHO issued new guidelines specifically for COVID-19, saying explicitly, "Don’t attach locations or ethnicity to the disease, this is not a 'Wuhan Virus,' 'Chinese Virus,' or 'Asian Virus.'"

Gosar defended himself on Sunday, tweeting, "Just astoundingly ignorant to have all major media refer to it as #WuhanVirus for months but somehow, today, you’ve decided that’s #racist." He added, "Ignore the snowflake Leftists who think everything is racist. It's a virus. It doesn't care about your race."

But of course he's not the sole Republican trying to make that connection. Even the GOP leadership is ramping up the rhetoric. On Monday, Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, tweeted, "Everything you need to know about the Chinese coronavirus can be found on one, regularly-updated website," providing a link to the CDC's page on COVID-19, which doesn't feature the word "Chinese" anywhere. That tweet from the highest-ranking House republican is still up.

Conservative pundits have also been fanning xenophobia. On Sunday, right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt claimed that it's necessary to link COVID-19 to China because the Chinese government doesn't want to be associated with the disease: "Contrary to the absurd idea that #wuhanvirus is a racist term, it may be a necessary one to prevent an Orwellian rewrite of history underway by some in [China]."