Avoiding terms like 'Chinese Virus' and 'Wuhan virus' is part of a trend within medicine to avoid stigmatizing names for diseases and conditions.

Judge as of 2020-03-24. True: there was a documented trend within medicine or public health before March 2020 to avoid stigmatizing disease names, including geographic or group-based names (e.g. WHO's 2015 'Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases', which discourages place names, or moves away from terms like 'Mongolism' and 'GRID'), and avoiding 'Chinese/Wuhan virus' is consistent with that guidance. Mostly true: such a trend existed, but the link to these specific terms is somewhat indirect. Mixed: guidance existed but practice was inconsistent enough that 'trend' is debatable. Mostly false: there were only isolated instances, with no broad trend. False: no such trend or guidance existed.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases World Health Organization · 8 May 2015

   “Terms that should be avoided in disease names include geographic locations (e.g. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, Rift Valley fever), people’s names (e.g. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Chagas disease), species of animal or food”

2. E2 WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases World Health Organization · 8 May 2015

   “The best practices apply to new infections, syndromes, and diseases that have never been recognized or reported before in humans, that have potential public health impact, and for which there is no disease name in common usage. They do not apply to disease names that are already established.”

3. E3 The coronavirus finally has an official name. Here's how it was chosen SBS · 11 February 2020

   “The name had been chosen to avoid references to a specific geographical location, animal species or a group of people in line with international recommendations for naming aimed at preventing stigmatisation.”

4. E4 World Health Organization best practices for the naming of new human infectious diseases World Health Organization · 15 May 2015

   “has identified best practices for the naming of new human diseases, with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative impact of disease names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare”

In 2015 the WHO issued best practices for naming new human infectious diseases. They say disease names should avoid geographic locations, people's names and animal species (E1). E2 notes that the guidance covers new diseases rather than established names, and a new coronavirus falls within that scope. In February 2020 the official coronavirus name was chosen to avoid references to a place, animal species or group of people, "in line with international recommendations for naming aimed at preventing stigmatisation" (E3). This is consistent with treating the avoidance of 'Chinese/Wuhan virus' as part of documented public-health guidance that predates March 2020, although none of the evidence mentions those terms directly; E3 shows the official name was chosen to avoid geographic references in order to prevent stigmatisation.