In this Feb. 13, 2020, photo, Frankie Chu, owner of Vegetarian Dim Sum House in New York's Chinatown, sits in his empty restaurant usually bustling with customers, in New York. Sales have plunged 70% over the last two weeks, "I don't know how long I can stay here," Chu said. "After 9/11, it wasn't this bad."
Mesa, Arizona’s freshly crowned Asian District was deep into organizing its night market when news broke that a case of the illness known as COVID-19 was confirmed at nearby Arizona State University. Organizers will be handing out specially made masks with playful Asian-food theme slogans like “Bao to me” and “Insert lumpia here.”
Chu has sent some of his staff on vacation to cut costs. Under the circumstances, he will ask his landlord to forgive a 5% late fee normally charged.The crisis has alarmed New York City officials and business leaders, who have launched a campaign to lure people back to hard-hit communities in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
New York City is home to more than half a million Chinese Americans, the biggest population of any U.S. city. Some New Yorkers of Chinese descent are frustrated at being made to feel like foreigners because of a disease outbreak that feels as far away to them as any other resident. In Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh has launched a similar social media campaign, encouraging people to share photos of themselves supporting small businesses in the neighborhood with the hashtag #LoveBostonChinatown.
And yet the Chinese allow citizens to eat and drink from polluted waters and a strange yellow (ironic) cloud/mist sweeps through that has no explanation. In Chinatown SF officials don’t regulate them so is any wonder why people aren’t very trusting?
It’s what happens when the government governs by fear. Lash out at all Asians because that is what they have been trained to do by their leader.
I’m Asian American and I feel the same way. Sorry I don’t think it’s misguided to be cautious about your health, especially over a virus we know little about, even if the probability is low. You don’t know who’s been where in terms of recent travel. Why take the chance?
Smart move. Who’d wanna eat this crap worse than McDonald’s
We have all the world’s knowledge accessible right from our phones yet we insist, doggedly, at being stupid.
Americans are that stupid.
Chinese-Americans don't travel for the Chinese New Year?
Americans proving how stupid they are, again. 🤔
Nah, i’m staying away from my local Asian Buffett because i saw a cook take a piss and not wash his hands.
Thanks to Fox News and Talk Radio. They have incited yet MORE racial fear.
oh shit Mekong plaza....haven't been there in a while
What nonsense.
Me no wanna catch corona
OWHCrime Misguided? People are free not to go to these places if the don’t want to. STOP WITH “it’s racist” bullshit!
I don't think it's terribly misguided since the virus has a long incubation period and China is the source of the outbreak. A person would be wise to steer clear of areas that might have carriers recently coming from abroad or in regular contact with them.
They are just acting in relation to the way you are reporting the news
It's not misguided, it's human nature. Chinese food just doesn't appeal to me lately.
Hey, America, your racism is showing. Go ahead and skip the Vietnamese nail salons, Korean owned mini marts, sushi and Thai restaurants, you know, because of the Corona virus in China. All Asians are the same and know eachother, right? They must know all 12 US victims!
idiocracy
😩😩😩
If this is actually true, we have some really really stupid people who usually shop in Chinatown.
The ignorance is staggering.
Americans, not the smartest bunch.
Just don’t eat the bats and all the other shit they eat and
The virus' incubation period makes being around anyone who's been in China recently a risk. It's not racist.
People know people travel. Common sense.
That is ridiculous.
Are these same fools not buying any Chinese made products for fear of contracting the virus? Just dumb.
Best news ever
This how the United States treats people who don't agree with the 72 antigent/adjuvent vaccine schedule. So what's new?
As I’m sitting in the nail shop🤦🏽♀️🤨
And discounts are everywhere. Thank you, idiots.
Would the government help them out? They did it to banks & currently doing in to farmers !
Sad, but didn't help that China knew this for quite some time and kept it under QT from nations around the world in the Fear it would hurt them Financially. End of the day it's always about the GREEN.
It may be misguided ... but as a recent visitor to sfo it was disconcerting to see more people in chinatown wearing masks than the balance of the city perception
Some deals to be had.
So many whites in America don't get a flu shot or vaccination but when there is a virus on the other side of the world, all the sudden they're racism and fear come to life
They. Are. Dumb.
🇨🇳Messed up. Their stock is down right now. I prefer my health over your feelings.
All of the cases in America are people who traveled to China. Are you more likely to come into contact with someone who traveled to China in China Town, or a bodega? CommonSense
What's wrong with people 15 confirmed cases in US. 15! That's it. Go to Chinatown. Enjoy yourselves and quit being so freaking paranoid!
Is it still ok for cats to have a little bit of salami?
this is fear mongering against the chinese community. a reminder that there are zero cases of the virus in ny
I can’t exactly blame them, sure it’s likely safe but fear is rarely rational.
Racism is alive and well in America still I see.