Coronavirus Fears: Oakland's Chinatown seeing decline in business amid global outbreak

Eric Thomas Image
ByEric Thomas KGO logo
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Oakland's Chinatown see's decline in business amid coronavirus outbreak
Oakland's Chinatown notices a decline in business amid coronavirus outbreak concerns.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The weeks after Chinese New Year should boost the bottom line for Chinatown merchants, but not this year.

"Normally we would be expecting many customers coming to Oakland Chinatown" said Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

Chan says merchants are taking a hit because visitors are staying home due to fears about the novel coronavirus.

"It is between 50 to 75% drop and that is not what we would expect during Chinese New Year," Chan said.

RELATED: East Bay realtors believe virus is lowering interest rates, heating up home sales

The official name for coronavirus, COVID-19, was discovered in Wuhan, China and some people worry about a link between the discovery of the virus in China, and potential spread to areas like Chinatown. But, Alameda County has reported no confirmed coronavirus cases and Chinatown merchants want you to know it's safe.

"I'm still encouraging people to come out and not only come to Chinatown but go to places and enjoy yourself and your family" Chan said.

Oakland merchants are not the only ones fighting the stigma unfairly linking the virus and Chinese Communities.

RELATED: SFO says it's losing money due to outbreak

The Oakland Unified School District is following state guidelines - asking students who have visited mainland China to stay home for at least 14 days and come to school if no symptoms develop. But doing that without stigmatizing the kids is a balancing act.

"We don't stigmatize anybody. we don't allow anybody to stigmatize anybody" Said John Sasaki, spokesman for the Oakland Unified School District.

See more stories related to coronavirus here.