Chinese immigrants knew what to do

Thanks to a tip from TPM, I've learned that some Chinese immigrant communities realized very early on that an infectious virus was on bearing down on us all. Unlike most of us, they brought vivid experience of SARS and other influenza diseases and they had relatives in the old country who conveyed the horror of what was happening in China as soon as that government locked down Wuhan. Streetsblog reports that in hard hit New York City, poor Asian American communities have only a small number of cases of COVID-19.

It was muscle memory — and WeChat.

Asian-Americans, who comprise 14 percent of the city population, have suffered just 7 percent of the COVID-19 deaths, the lowest share, according to state data broken down by race and ethnicity. Additionally, the ZIP codes of Chinatown in Manhattan, 10009 and 10003, have some of the lowest confirmed COVID-19 cases and death rates in the city.

By comparison, whites, who comprise 32 percent of the population, account for 27 percent of the deaths. African-Americans, who are 22 percent of the population, have suffered 28 percent of the deaths. ...

Ann Choi and Josefa Velasquez provide more detail in The City, describing what amounts to a natural experiment that proves that early action in a Chinese community has saved much suffering and many lives. In the borough of Queens, the neighborhoods of Flushing Meadows and Corona Park are located next to each other, the former home to many Chinese immigrants, the latter to a predominantly Latinx population.

Both are high-density areas with similar socioeconomic profiles. They’re linked by the usually crowded No. 7 train.

Nearly half of workers in both neighborhoods are employed in food service, construction, cleaning and transportation — jobs that New York State has deemed essential through the pandemic.

Residents of both places typically have household income below the Queens median and a similar share of people who lack health insurance, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau. And almost half of apartments and houses in both areas have more than one occupant per room, the Census definition of crowded.

But Chinese immigrants knew what to do about the menace over the horizon.

“I was very aware when the virus first started in China,” said a Flushing nurse, originally from China, who spoke with THE CITY on the condition of anonymity. “I knew we’d be hit hard if America didn’t prepare,” she said.

... By mid-March, Crystal, who did not want her last name published, and her 67-year old mother had already gotten into the habit of wearing masks and gloves whenever they left their Flushing apartment.

They had already stocked up on Lysol and had a disinfectant routine. The pair even purchased alcohol to make their own hand sanitizer.

... Although New York deems grocery stores are essential businesses, allowing them to stay open during the shutdown, Chinese grocery stores in Flushing closed their doors in late March.

Seeing the destruction COVID-19 was wreaking in China, Flushing grocery store managers were already taking precautions by February to protect employees and shoppers by distributing masks at the front of the store or requiring mask wearing, said Peter Tu, the executive director of the Flushing Chinese Business Association.

Stores installed Plexiglass sheets at cash registers to protect workers from aerated germs.

But that wasn’t enough for workers.

“Because the supermarket is so busy, they have to always come in contact with the customer a lot,” Tu said.

“The supermarkets, they don’t want to close. But their employees — they don’t want to work,” said Tu. “So the owner has no choice but to close because people are scared.”

Stores are only now beginning to reopen. It would be hard to find a clearer proof that communication, leadership, and listening to informed workers is likely to be the best way to mitigate galloping spread of infections. Too bad those advantages are so lacking in so much of this country.

I took the photo of the street sweeper that heads this post in San Francisco Chinatown on February 1 while Walking San Francisco. I liked the image, but didn't want to post it because mask wearing has been a negative stereotype for Chinese American communities. Well, I guess that's over ... at least it should be.