Bay Area Chinese rally to aid hospitals, seniors

When Kaiser Napa-Solano, a hospital in Northern California that receives and treats coronavirus patients, shared with the local community early this week that there is a severe shortage of medical protective gear and space — facemasks, gloves and suites — for their front-line doctors and nurses, Chinese Americans acted immediately.

The lack of medical supplies has resulted in delayed coronavirus testing, infections among medical staff and mandatory closing of hospitals and clinics in California. As of Thursday, there were 892 confirmed cases in California, with 17 deaths and around 12,000 people in self-quarantine.

Xiang Hong, a scientist at Promab Biotechnologies, publicized Kaiser's plight in a WeChat group and was flooded with messages from people eager to donate.

The majority of the donors have been Chinese Americans, said Xiang. Because medical supplies have to meet stringent standards set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Kaiser, Xiang and the volunteers checked all the donated items to make sure they were acceptable.

On Thursday, they were able to pack more than 1,000 FDA-certified masks, 770 of which were donated by one individual, for a Kaiser facility in California's North Bay Area.

"More are on the way," she said, adding that another volunteer has ordered 10,000 surgical masks from China. "They (the masks) will arrive in a week. We'll relay them right away to local hospitals."

Like Xiang, many Chinese Americans across the US are allocating resources at home and abroad, trying to contribute to America's national battle against the outbreak of COVID-19. There are approximately 3.8 million Chinese Americans, constituting 1.5 percent of the US population.

They are not only assisting Chinese communities — on Tuesday, Fremont City Council Member Shao Yang sent a box of masks, which were donated by the Chinese American community in a week, to the Fremont Fire Department, where Fire Chief Curtis Jacobson and Fire Captain Jeremy Hoag were waiting.

A picture of the delivery went viral on social media.

Furious about US President Donald Trump's recent repeated usage of the label "Chinese virus" in public speech and on his social media, Xiong said such rhetoric is "unacceptable" and can only "evoke discrimination against and hatred towards Chinese Americans".

"Humanity and unity will outshine and dwarf racism and hatred," Xiong said.

Earlier this week, Xiong established a communitywide task force that focuses on senior citizens to help them run errands, buy daily supplies or escort them to hospitals.

The first elderly couple they will take care of are Shau-Jin and Ying-Ying Chang, parents of Iris Chang, the late American journalist, author and political activist best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanjing Massacre, The Rape of Nanking.

Residing in an apartment in San Jose, the couple in their 80s rarely drive or go outside. Fearful of the coronavirus, they recently stopped take their daily walks outside.

"We will check regularly on their well being, and do grocery shopping and other necessities for them," said Xiong. "Iris' mom now is in our WeChat group, so any of her messages will be taken care of immediately."