In Carolyn Wong and Ziting Kuang’s report Asian Americans and the Covid-19 Pandemic, a Multi-Lingual Survey in Greater Boston in 2020-21, the impact of the pandemic on English-limited and low-income Asian families are mainly reflected in financial losses, unemployment, and food and housing difficulties.
In their survey, the population is focused on Chinese American, Vietnamese American, and South Asian ethnicities living in the neighborhoods of Chinatown, Dorchester, Malden, and Quincy. The survey also pays attention to the percentage of low-income households with limited English efficiency in the overall interview sample. The Asian community should not be represented only by well-educated people with high incomes. When it comes to the impact of the pandemic, the former group is more vulnerable to the direct and indirect impacts.
According to the results of the survey, the coronavirus infection rate of Asian Americans (5.2%) is lower than other ethnic groups. At the same time, they are more likely to feel that precautions such as face masks are acceptable. In the survey conducted in late 2020 and early 2021, 50.8% of Asian American respondents feel the government’s response to the pandemic was not enough. For Asian American households earning less than $30,000 a year, many worry about paying the rent, mortgage, and food supply.
The reverberations of Covid -19’s devastating impact on the world’s economy shook the world to its core and continue to destroy the fabric of even the strongest families. People whose fragile existence depended on painfully low wage jobs were let go without warning and with no safety net.
Mrs. W had been working as a housekeeper at a hotel for only 3 months when she was laid off because the hotel had no guests. She could not apply for unemployment benefits. She was a single mom with two kids under 5 years old. Her husband had suddenly disappeared. She heard that he was murdered because he had borrowed a lot of money to pay their rent after he was laid off. He was the breadwinner in the family while Mrs. W took care of the children.
Mrs. W feels very guilty that she is alive, and he is dead because of her and the kids. She is extremely anxious and cannot sleep. She is overwhelmed by her children; she says she is losing her temper a lot these days. She has applied for food stamps and rent relief, but she still needs to borrow money from her family in China. She must find another job, but her English is limited. She was a nurse in China. Her husband was a doctor
The emotional toil that Covid-19 has taken on the men and women who only wanted to work has been enormous. Coupled with the shame of admitting weakness, some give up.
Mr. Lee ran in front of a moving bus because he tried to commit suicide. The bus saw him and stopped in time. Lee had been laid off for four months. He had been a cook for 5 years. Since he had been working illegally, he could not apply for unemployment. He had no savings because he was sending money back to China to his wife. He is y worried about his wife and son in China. He tried to find another restaurant job, but all the restaurants were not hiring. He tried to find a job parking cars, but his English was not good enough. He was living in a single room with 8 people. He could no longer afford the rent so he was going to become homeless, and he could not face the shame.
For Asians, Asian Hate has been both frightening and confusing. They are afraid to take the train and bus. Some have been physically attacked but have not reported the attack for fear of retaliation by the authorities. Many others have felt “targeted” when in trains, buses, supermarkets.
Their kids tell stories of being called names and being pushed but they tell them to pretend they don’t hear the jeering or see the glances. And tell no one.
SAMPAN, published by the nonprofit Asian American Civic Association, is the only bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in New England, acting as a bridge between Asian American community organizations and individuals in the Greater Boston area. It is published biweekly and distributed free-of-charge throughout metro Boston; it is also delivered to as far away as Hawaii.
