Trump crossed out 'corona' and replaced it with 'Chinese' in his press conference notes

President Trump's notes got a striking edit in Sharpie on Thursday.

You can clearly see the key change in a photo taken of the remarks he made on Thursday during a press conference about the new coronavirus that's spreading across the U.S. The word "corona" was crossed out and replace with "Chinese." The president has defended calling COVID-19 — the sickness that develops from the virus — the "Chinese virus," despite lots of other folks calling that moniker racist.

From a cursory glance, the handwriting on the president's notes on Thursday looks like Trump's handwriting. And we have plenty of evidence that he likes to mark his papers up with sharpies.

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As the United States has struggled in its response to the coronavirus — an utter lack of testing, faulty communication from leadership, a shortage of life-saving ventilators — the White House has created a different controversy by calling the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" (or some other similar name).

World health officials have spoken out against that practice, saying it could lead to racial profiling (or worse) against Asians. In fact, there have already been hate crimes against Asians related to the coronavirus.

"It's not racist at all," Trump told reporters on Wednesday. "It comes from China, that's why."

"There is no blame in this,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization's emergencies program.

“Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin or how much money you have in the bank," Ryan said at a news conference on Wednesday. "So it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus."