US Asian community hurt disproportionately by COVID-19: Financial Times

LONDON - A wide spectrum of Americans have suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, but Asians in particular have been hurt disproportionately, a Financial Times opinion piece has said.

Patti Waldmeir, a North America correspondent for the Financial Times, called Asian Americans and other Asians in the United States a "hidden minority" hit hard by the pandemic in an article published on Monday.

"COVID-19 hit those of Asian descent quicker and harder than white Americans. In the first three months of the pandemic, Chinese patients had the highest mortality rate of all racial and ethnic groups in New York City public hospitals," said the article.

Asian Americans were at higher risk of infection with "up to 30 percent of Asian Americans living in intergenerational households, and 17.7 percent living in a home with at least one health care worker", said the article quoting a study from the New York University Center for the Study of Asian American Health.

Furthermore, Chinese Americans have experienced more racist attacks during the pandemic.

"Asian-owned businesses have been hit hard because a quarter of US food and accommodation businesses are owned by Asians, while many poorer Asians are frontline workers like restaurant, grocery or laundry workers," the article added.