More than 9,000 anti-Asian hate crimes have occurred in the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Stop Asian American Pacific Islanders Hate (AAPI).

The group reported 4,558 hate crimes in 2020, and 4,533 in 2021. Since the virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, there have been reports of poor treatment against Asian-Americans. In May, President Biden signed into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which had a particular emphasis on the increase in violence against Asian Americans.

Lawmakers and activists have pushed back against these hate crimes with social media campaigns and public rallies.

“When you encourage hate, it’s not like a genie in a bottle where you can pull it out and put it back whenever you want,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council.

“There is too much perpetuating these belief systems to make them go away,” Kulkarni added.

Kulkarni said that as the economy opened up it gave people more public interactions and opportunities to attack, with the most notable one being the March shooting of a Korean spa in Atlanta. Six Asian women were killed in the shooting.

The report found that two-thirds of the incidents reported were verbal harassment, which doesn’t qualify legally as hate crimes, and one-third were violent physical assaults. Women submitted 63% of the incidents. Of the incidents reported, 31% took place on the streets, while 30% of them took place at businesses.

A U.S. census survey found earlier this month that Asian-American households were twice as likely as white households to admit they didn’t have enough food because they were afraid of going outside due to fears of being assaulted.

Coronavirus