As the fear around the novel coronavirus grew, Orange County residents have reported race-related hate incidents such people yelling “Go back to China!” at them as they walk by.

Scientists and researchers are still trying to find more information on the origin of the novel coronavirus, though most believe it can be traced back to Wuhan, China. Alison Edwards, CEO of OC Human Relations, tells Inside the Issues the intimidation Asian Americans may be facing because of this is happening both locally and nationally. 

“What we've been trying to do is make sure that people know that we’re here and that we need these [incidents] reported so that we can make sure we're responding and that we are able to take the leadership here in Orange County,” she said.

OC Human Relations tracks hate crimes and produces an annual report that is shared with public universities, police departments and public officials.

She encourages people to report their experiences whether it be to her organization or to law enforcement, even if it’s unclear whether or not the incident is in fact a hate crime.

“The more we get to share and to report we can start working with folks to kind of dial-down the details, but it's really important,” she said. “As an organization, even though we track and report hate crimes, we don't have an army of people that go out and take reports, we are really relying on the public to come to us or organizations, other nonprofits, faith communities, etc. to come to us with those reports so we really appreciate people who will take the time to engage with us and see if that should be included in our in our data.”

Watch the clip above for more.

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