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LA-Area Asian Community Struggles to Recover from SARS Scare

By Robert Jablon | Associated Press
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Markets and restaurants emptied and only now are beginning to recover. By some estimates, hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost, and some businesses continue to struggle.

World Express Travel of Alhambra hasn't had a booking in a week and will have to fold unless business picks up, owner Ly Thanh said.

"I'm dying now,'' she said.

Nearly 80 percent of those who had reserved tours and trips to Asia as far ahead as June have canceled, she said.

"We do mostly Europe and Asia,'' she said. "In Europe, they're afraid of the war; and Asia, it's about SARS.''

The San Gabriel Valley, which stretches along the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and includes Pasadena and 29 other cities, is home to a large population of immigrants from China, Hong Kong and Vietnam -- places where SARS has hit hard. Its Asian population, about 390,000 people, is about the same size as the entire population of Oakland and accounts for 26 percent of the valley's 1.5 million people.

Its experience with the fear cast by the SARS outbreak is similar to that of other Asian enclaves throughout California.

In San Francisco's normally bustling Chinatown, streets, stores and restaurants have been noticeably quieter in recent days.

"It's terrible,'' said waiter Tom Tom as he handed out menus to the few people who walked by the empty Kan's Restaurant Tuesday evening.

A few doors down, workers at the San Francisco Camera and Electronics store worried about their future.

"Every day, business gets worse,'' store manager Abraham Kidane said.

After nine hours of operation Tuesday, the store rang up just $150 in total sales, Kidane said. With a $10,000 monthly rent, he said six months more of bad business will force the camera store to close.

An estimated 4,000 people worldwide have been infected by the virus, which has led to about 250 deaths, mostly in Asia. The United States reports just 38 probable cases and no deaths.

California has had only a dozen probable cases of SARS and no deaths. Los Angeles County has had only four or five cases.

Public health officials say the fear is disproportionate to the actual threat.

"You're much more likely to be killed by some drunk driver on your way home or from complications of influenza, which kills 15,000 to 20,000 people a year in the U.S., than by SARS,'' said Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for Los Angeles County.

But SARS worries hit home in a region where many people retain close ties to China and Hong Kong.

"We have the largest Asian community of any metropolitan area, so it's not surprising that there would be concerns there,'' Fielding said.

State Assemblywoman Judy Chu estimated the rumors cost businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars in her district, which includes the cities of Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead, San Gabriel, El Monte, South El Monte and San Marino.

"I just came back from Hawaii and similar rumors were spreading there,'' she said. "The governor deliberately went to a Chinese restaurant to eat. I was thinking of doing the same.''

An anonymous e-mail circulated widely in the community earlier this month contributed to the fear, warning that SARS was spreading.

It said San Gabriel police had shut down a supermarket because of an infected employee and that an Alhambra restaurant chef had come down with the virus.

People ate at home rather than risk contagion at restaurants. On the streets, students, shoppers and bus passengers wore surgical masks -- more a psychological comfort than an effective barrier to the respiratory-borne disease, authorities said.

This week, the masks have mostly disappeared, and customers are starting to return to markets and restaurants. But the damage has been done.

Robert Lee, owner of Ocean Star Restaurant in Monterey Park, said a drop in business prompted by the rumors cost him $70,000 in business.

"The people didn't come for lunch. No lunch, no dinner,'' he said.

Hawaii Supermarket of San Gabriel, with offerings from woks to won ton, saw its business drop by 50 percent at the peak of the rumors. The store was receiving 300 to 500 calls a day from concerned customers.

"People didn't dare to come shopping,'' market President Gerard Yang said through an interpreter. "We had people calling to ask, 'Are you closed?'''

"We had people saying, 'We bought food from your store and we're afraid to eat it.'''

The market ignored the rumors for the first few days.

"We thought it was a bad rumor that would go away. But it just got worse and worse,'' said Helen Ly, a customer service supervisor.

Eventually the supermarket was forced to spend more than $10,000 on publicity, including full-page ads in Chinese-, Cambodian- and Vietnamese-language newspapers denying that anyone in the store had SARS.

The store also added more air conditioning vents to promote air circulation and warned its employees to avoid traveling to Asia.

"People are starting to come back,'' Yang said, and the store appeared packed during a recent lunch hour.

Henry Hsu, manager of Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant in San Gabriel, said business dropped by about half but began recovering a week ago.

Still, there are new precautions.

"We turn the air conditioner higher and have the employees wash their hands as often as possible,'' he said.

Fielding, of the county Department of Health Services, said extreme fears of contagion also occurred when the first U.S. cases of HIV and the West Nile virus were publicized.

"Any time that there's something new ... not fully understood, it spawns a large number of rumors, misconceptions and apprehension beyond what is justified by the science,'' he said. "What we have to do is systematically substitute good information for the rumors.''

Daniel Pang, 37 of Monterey Park, said he still worries about contracting the illness. He has cut back on his dining out from two meals a day to once every three days.

"Everyone's still nervous and kind of scared,'' he said, sipping a coffee in front of a Starbucks in Monterey Park. "That's probably why I'm sitting here alone today.''

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