Dezmi Cao endlessly stirs the stews he has on the counter of his restaurant at lunchtime so that they don’t dry out.
Every time the door opens at Royal Sichuan, his restaurant in Richardson’s Chinatown area, Cao turns his head, hoping customers come as they used to — before the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Before it was busy, but right now is slow. People are scared,” he said.
The new coronavirus was first detected in China and has been spreading to other countries, including the United States. As of Saturday, eight people in Texas had been diagnosed with the disease, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. There have been no reported cases in North Texas.
Yet the fear of contagion has spread across the United States. The Chinese community of North Texas, and Asian Americans in general, are feeling its effects.
Cao, 54, came to Dallas 21 years ago and has been operating his traditional Chinese restaurant for the last 11. Before the coronavirus outbreak, tables typically were full at noon. Since the outbreak, he said, sales are down about 40%. The restaurant is preparing less food to avoid having to discard any.
"Come here, it’s OK, no problem,” Cao said, pointing to a bottle of hand sanitizer on the counter for customers to use. “I know that in Dallas nobody is sick and everybody is good right now."
His business is one of several in DFW China Town, 400 N. Greenville Ave., one of the most emblematic Asian community settings in North Texas.
The place has a concentration of retailers selling products from China, as well as restaurants of traditional Japanese, Vietnamese and South Korean food.
According to 2018 census data, 1.5 million people living in Texas, or 5.2% of the population, are of Asian background.
Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties are home to some 539,000 people of Asian descent, or 9.4% of the four-county population.
Most of them, 176,000, live in Dallas. But in Collin County, they make up 15.9% of the population.
Susan Philips, president of Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce, said the global spread of coronavirus has impacted not only Chinese-owned businesses but also those tied to other Asian countries.
"The businesses in general have been slowed down considerably,” Philips said. “I mean, the stock market has seen the effects of the coronavirus."
The crisis has been particularly hard on businesses that sell Asian imports and those such as restaurants that have direct contact with customers.
The chamber has not put a figure on the financial loss for the Asian American business community. But Philips noted that businesses offering professional services, such as law firms and consultants, haven’t been affected.
Although the new coronavirus has not spurred any known incidents of harassment or bullying in North Texas, she said, the business impact alone is discouraging.
"From a social perspective we have seen the effects, the negative impact of the perceived threat of the coronavirus here in our community, which is disheartening, especially when it hasn’t really hit our community," she said.
"We have some work to do in terms of dispelling the myth and getting people to understand, be a bit more educated about the subject,” she said.
Philips noted that some Asian American events, such as Chinese New Year festivities and other social activities, have been canceled in recent weeks.
The Dallas Chinese Community Center, which hosts classes and seminars for North Texas’ Chinese community, has postponed or canceled some of its events.
LiChu Hsu, 69, who sits on the center’s executive board, said that although neither she nor her acquaintances have been subjected to abuse, she has noticed a change in how Chinese Americans are being perceived.
"It does affect the Chinese community because most people associate the food or the culture or the face — like you look Chinese and you probably are carrying the virus,” said Hsu, who has lived in Dallas for 47 years and noted that the only time she is in China is when on vacation.
"We just feel like … we have probably been associated with that, even if we have nothing to do with it,” Hsu said
The community center not only called off its Chinese New Year celebrations in late January but also postponed some cultural events and health programs through April. Those events could be canceled outright, she said.
Also in DFW China Town is 85°C Bakery Café, managed by Duyen Tran, 25, a Dallas resident whose parents immigrated from Vietnam more than 30 years ago.
The restaurant, which sells Taiwanese-style bread, has not been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak so far, Tran said.
While working, she wears a black surgical mask bearing a printed smile, but she said she does so not for fear of the new coronavirus but because of her allergies.
"It hasn’t really affected us too much,” she said. “We’ll get like a handful of customers who tell us about their conspiracies about the coronavirus. They tell us that we are brave for coming to work.”
But most merchants agree that DFW China Town has never been this empty.
