People have really long memories. I keep reading about Spaniards getting beaten up over the 1918 Spanish Flu. It did not originate in Spain, but that doesn’t keep the racists from beating up Spaniards.
And the 1968 Hong Kong Flu? That is REALLY fresh in peoples’ minds because I hear about ten stories of day of people beating up Hong Kongers and screaming “That’s for my flu in 1968, you rat!”