She initially assumed that if people are afraid to be out in public, they might just order delivery instead. But delivery sales haven’t appeared to save Chinatown’s industry.“The Uber driver is going to stop over there in Chinatown, so [customers] are afraid to get the virus from the driver,” she says in a phone call.

A mere handful of tweets illuminate why these storefronts are seeing fewer customers than usual:

Bigotry and xenophobia have historically been a fixture in global pandemics. And despite it being 2020, racism has undeniably seeped into this new global crisis—a fact made abundantly clear by the way many refer to the virus as the “Chinese Coronavirus,” or similar names. Harris Ali, a sociology professor at York University, says the notion behind this is that “other parts of the world and other people are sources of danger and threat.” Ali also stresses that misinformation on social media about the virus has contributed to this economic decline.

Angela Chang answers all of the above to whether Asian businesses have experienced financial losses, fewer customers, and instances of racism. “There seems to be this lockdown mentality where everyone is just like ‘we’ll cook at home, we won’t eat out,’” Chang says. “The xenophobia is very painful to read about, but I do think as Americans we can rise above all of this. We’ve seen scarier situations happen and we’ve been able to rise together and help each other out."

Yet some individuals in the Asian community don’t want to make the business decline a racial issue. “People stay away more due to the virus than racism,” Eva Lee of Chinatown Merchants Association says in a Facebook message. Susan Au Allen, CEO of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, urges folks not to jump to accusations of racism just because a business is empty.

As Asian businesses continue to suffer, Congress members Grace Meng, Nydia Velázquez, and Judy Chu introduced a bill to help small businesses affected by the coronavirus concerns. The “Small Business Relief from Communicable Disease Induced Economic Hardship Act” will allow business owners to access loans of up to $2 million to assist with expenses. And Facebook announced it will help fund advertising campaigns for San Francisco Chinatown businesses to increase foot traffic and reduce concerns.

But as the outbreak escalates, Kenny Chang believes the worst is yet to come. “Right now is not the worst time. Right now is just the beginning. Maybe most of the businesses can survive for one month. But how many businesses can stay for two or three months with no income and heavy expenses? That I really don’t know.”

As Asian-owned industries are struggling over illegitimate coronavirus fears, the below tweet shows one way you can easily show your support: Eat Chinese food.