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News stories linking contact with Asians with a raised risk of coronavirus exposure are abject.

Around the world, the media has struggled with how to cover the novel coronavirus episode, now christened Covid-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Is it the Next Great Plague ham-fistedly trying to be covered up by China, or has there been an overreaction to the latest flu-like virus? Even against that uncertain backdrop, a story by 1 News on Waitangi Day, in which a journalist reported live from Christchurch that the city’s Night Noodle Markets would be unaffected, was abject.

TVNZ has not been the only organisation to conflate “Asian” and “coronavirus”. Presumably, no one fears catching coronavirus from dim sums – or from club sandwiches, for that matter – so the only reason for reporting that the night noodle market was happening was because Asians were likely to be present. Doubtless they were, as were hundreds of people of many ethnicities. No one in New Zealand was known to have coronavirus, so why shouldn’t anyone have gone out? It would have been like not going to a performance of Carmen in 1918, before the arrival of Spanish flu. TVNZ might as well have said that, according to Aucklanders, Asians attend many open homes, but open homes were still going ahead.

It was more than unfortunate that Auckland’s Lantern Festival was cancelled for no valid reason. That, presumably, gave TVNZ the idea that the Christchurch noodle market not being cancelled was newsworthy. It was not, but the market gained advertising that money could not have bought. The reporter told viewers that dumplings and noodles were among items on the menu, and the entertainment included lion dancers and drummers. “Everywhere you go, there’s hand sanitiser,” she said.

There has been a lack of clear messaging throughout this scare. Asians are not vectors just because they are Asian. Regardless of ethnicity, people living in New Zealand have no risk of having novel coronavirus unless they have had an association with someone who does have it – which currently means coming from overseas. Asians are not to be feared or avoided.

There are many reports suggesting that the incidence of the virus in China is far higher than has been reported, which, if true, means the mortality rate is much lower. If you are unlucky enough to get it, the strong odds are that you will recover, as tens of thousands of people have already. Everyone from TVNZ to the WHO needs to get better at this.

Ex-Australian rugby player Israel Folau, who thinks that sinners will roast in hell like kebabs – though maybe not on actual skewers alternating with pieces of capsicum – has signed with French rugby league club Catalans Dragons. This prompted the Super League to change its rules so it can bar controversial signings in future. “As a sport, we have an impressive and enviable track record when it comes to equality, diversity and inclusion and we will continue our great work in those areas,” the league said.

If you were playing that game where someone says a word and the next person has to immediately associate it with something, it is doubtful that the response to “rugby league” would be “equality”, “diversity” or “inclusion”. Maybe, “alcohol”, “eye gouging” and – bad-taste alert – “John Hopoate sticking his finger up the anuses of rivals” would feature ahead of those other associations.

Folau has agreed with his new club to keep his interpretation of the Bible private. He should not have to stay mum but it will make his life easier if he shares his religious musings only with God in prayer, rather than with the public on Instagram. At the same time, sports authorities should quit pretending they are guardians of society’s enlightened principles. They are not. If they were, freedom of speech would be a good one to uphold.

It was more than unfortunate that Auckland’s Lantern Festival was cancelled for no valid reason.