Santa Clara County DA Issues Coronavirus-Related Hate Crime PSA

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office issued a public service announcement Monday urging anyone who is a hate crime victim or witnesses one to contact local law enforcement.

Such incidents, targeting people of Asian descent in particular, have been on the rise amid the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China.

The DA’s office released the PSA as a 55-second YouTube video in which District Attorney Jeff Rosen warned that anyone who harms or threatens someone because of their ethnicity, race, religion or gender, “you’ll have a lot more to worry about than COVID-19.”

The PSA also features Supervising Deputy DA Charlotte Chang, Deputy DA Mattia Corsiglia, and Community Prosecutor Hugo Meza.

“This is not a Chinese virus,” said Chang, who is Chinese-American, in an apparent rebuke of remarks President Trump has made repeatedly but has since walked back.

“This Virus has no ethnicity,” the DA’s office said in a statement accompanying the video.

“We do - and we are in this together. If you are a victim of a hate crime, please contact your local law enforcement agency."