China News Service, New York, May 15 Question: Visiting the three major Chinatowns in New York City: living through the most difficult period, and living still going on
China News Agency reporter Ma Delin
Near mid-May, the temperature in New York gradually increased. The recent outbreak of New Coronary Pneumonia in New York has continued to ease, and there have been significantly more cars on the road. Several expressways connecting Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan occasionally have minor traffic jams.
Brooklyn ’s Eighth Avenue, the largest Chinese district in New York City, is full of pedestrians and all wear masks. Grocery stores and fresh food markets are mostly in operation. Several employees in a supermarket wear white protective clothing, goggles, and masks, "fully armed" to move goods and clean the streets in front of them. On the roadside, a food truck selling teppanyaki and deep-fried food, the stall owner constantly solicited customers. When the reporter asked about the business, she pointed to the supermarket next door: "They opened the door two days ago, and I came back to do business."
Flushing in Queens is similar. On the bustling and noisy Burmese Street in the past, law firms and accounting firms were closed and closed, but customers in fruit shops and food stores kept coming. There are also many vendors selling stalls on the street. The products range from vegetables and fruits to masks, gloves and disinfectants. In a food store, tofu brains, fried dough sticks and other foods are neatly laid on the table, and stainless steel dishes are filled with various types of cooked food and cold dishes for customers to buy. The clerk told reporters that the store has been operating since the outbreak, and the business is OK. "It's just that nobody buys breakfast, because everyone is off work." When talking about whether she was worried about the risk of disease, the female clerk said softly, "Don't you come over even the most difficult time?"
Compared with the first two, Chinatown, the oldest in Manhattan, is slightly deserted, with fewer shops and pedestrians. There is a long list of cars parked along Bejie Road, and each car has a piece of paper printed with the words "Necessary Industry Employees" under the windshield. The doors and windows of several nearby barber shops are all closed, and one of them has three sheets of A4 paper stuck on it: one sheet says that in order to prevent the epidemic, "this shop decided to close for two weeks (from 3 / 18-4 / 2/2020)" The next one reads "We will open on April 3rd"; the third one says "Our store will be closed until further notice by the government".
With the outbreak of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic in the United States, New York quickly became the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States. New York State began implementing the home-based epidemic prevention policy on March 22, and all units must not concentrate on work except the necessary industries prescribed by the government.
Ms. Huang has been in the apparel business in New York for more than 10 years, and just rented a street-facing facade house at the end of last year. "Business is not easy to do." She told reporters that the storefront could not be opened due to the epidemic, and she could only pack the autumn and winter clothing in the store first into the warehouse. Ms. Huang said that she sold some clothes before the store closed in March. If she can open in June, she will have to sell another batch of clothes. "I'm afraid now that there will be another wave (outbreak) in November, then I really don't know what to do."
New York State's "suspend" policy will expire on May 15. Governor Andrew Como recently proposed that after the policy expires, only areas that meet the seven indicators, such as the total number of hospitalizations, the number of hospital deaths, and the number of available beds, can resume work in stages. New York City currently has only four targets, and Mayor Bai Sihao admitted that according to the current epidemic situation in New York City, it is unlikely to resume work in May. The municipal government will evaluate the situation again at the end of May and early June.
Aunt Jiang, who set up a vegetable stall by the roadside, came to New York for 11 years. Her son runs a grocery store in Chinatown, and she helps in a restaurant opened by her niece. Due to concerns about health risks, the restaurant was closed after the outbreak. Aunt Jiang and her son and daughter-in-law came out to sell vegetables, from 8 am to 3 pm every day.
"Not many people buy food from us." Aunt Jiang shook her head. The monthly rent for her and her son's family was $ 9,000. "It's a little to subsidize." (End)