Thursday, April 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Fear factor

Amid SARS worries, business is slow at local Chinatown

By Bob Shemeligian

At Chinatown Plaza on Spring Mountain Road, the Chinatown Florist Shop displays several carefully pruned bamboo trees in the front window. Known as "money trees" in the Chinese community, the waxy floral stalks are considered good financial omens.

But a statue of a female Buddha in the Great Wall Book Store has a look of concern on her porcelain face. Seated in a lotus position, Lady Buddha looks downward and appears to be deep in prayer.

Perhaps she is concerned about the lack of business these days at once-thriving Chinatown Plaza. The primary reason: the worldwide SARS epidemic.

"It's been slow," laments a waiter at Harbor Palace Seafood Restaurant, staring out across rows of empty tables.

"Very slow," echoes a waitress at Chinatown Express Restaurant.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is a potentially fatal pneumonia-like disease that first emerged in the Guangdong Province of China but has since spread with alarming speed. The World Health Organization reports more than 2,600 probable cases of SARS, 98 of them fatal, from 18 countries, including the United States, where there are 141 suspected cases of SARS. So far, no one in the United States has died of the disease.

The Clark County Health District reports no SARS cases in Nevada. But tell that to Las Vegas tourists who are staying away from Chinatown Plaza.

"Business has been slow," says Alan Chen, spokesman for the Chinatown Plaza and the Chinese-American Chamber of Commerce, who explains that there are many reasons for the drop in business, including the war in Iraq and the general slowdown in tourism following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Still, fear and misunderstanding about SARS are the biggest factors contributing to a severe drop in business among Chinatowns in major cities throughout the nation.

"It's really a case of misdirected negativity toward our community," Chen says. "People are bestowing blame on us because this influenza first appeared in Asian countries."

Indeed, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control reports that all U.S. SARS patients had traveled recently to Asia, and today only one air carrier--Japan Airlines--offers direct flights from Asia to Las Vegas.

"All the cases [in the United States] are associated with travel, says Rose Bell, the chief epidemiologist at the Clark County Health District.

Still, sound arguments and logic do little to fill the acres of empty parking spaces at Chinatown Plaza, which houses the largest collection of Asian businesses in Las Vegas, including nine restaurants, several retail outlets and a travel agency. The complex is the first master-planned Chinatown in the nation, but no amount of planning or forethought could have prevented the problems Chinatown Plaza is experiencing today because of SARS.

To allay apprehensions and misconceptions about the disease, Bell was scheduled to speak about SARS at Chinatown Wednesday afternoon.

But health officials know it will take more than one informational session to bring the crowds back to Chinatown Plaza.

"People have different understandings about the modes of transmission of diseases," Bell says. "Some people have more anxiety than others. People have different fear levels. Many people love to ski. Others say the risk [of injury] is not worth the fun."

Still, Bell explains that there is a big difference between the real risk of injury from a contact sport and the perceived risk of infection of a disease through casual contact. "Personally I'm not afraid to go wherever I want," she says.