https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTvXhvpuPY
In the previous year, the virus hit the world hard.
This is China Station, a Chinese food bar near the campus. Like any other restaurant, they close the dining since the Covid-19.
Current status.
The bar suffered a revenue drop significantly due to the virus, but fortunately, the bar’s boss doesn’t lay out employees yet. They were reopening the dining nowadays, but the virus stalks the customer.
Tip can
The Cashier told me. For the last year, they can only place a table in front of the door and check over the table. During the beginning of the pandemic, no one is allowed to go inside the bar except the faculty. Thus, takeaway service and self-collection became the only way to run the business. By the way, Their main customers are SBU students, which mean they lose their customer due to campus shut down. Nevertheless, they survived the most difficult time.
Just like the China station, many restaurant bosses adjusted their strategy for surviving. The delivery service was booming during the pandemic. The Four-top US-delivery apps saw revenue by $3 billion collectively in the second and third quarters.
The delivery business was grown in Flushing as well. As a Chinese community whose main food industry, the delivery service, is a big business-saving factor. Fortunately, I got a chance to interview a delivery man who had worked on Flushing for the last year. “ The older I got during the lockdown was more than ever.” He told me, He used to treat this job as a part-time job, but now he chooses to stay.
Salon after the fire disaster
Mr. Yong is a barber who works in a salon. For the past year, the lockdown hit their business hard, and once lost job. Moreover, they suffered a fire disaster in February, and the building had burned. This bad case scenario forced Yong to move to his friend’s Salon. The last time I visited him, we got a call from an insurance company. Yong was overwhelmed since he was just an employee. However, either virus or fire disaster does not matter. As a single immigrant who moved to America alone, the most necessary thing is the connection to his friend. Now, as you see, series of events isolated him from others.
Scene of fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcGgNGx8S_0
Mr. Chen is a driver who works for a passenger transport company. The virus affected his life significantly. Usually, his major client was the international tourists, and the pandemic was cut down on his customer source. Except for delivery tourists, he also took interstate transport orders. The last time I met him, he used a transparent fabric to block the driving seat. To support his family, he has to spend most of the day on the road. He told me that he wants to buy a house near Stony Brook, but now this plan has to be delayed.
¿Future?
The only certainty is uncertainty. Mr. Chen and Mr. Yong are not mastery the English language yet. This disadvantage causes terrible scenarios, such as isolated by society or any limitation. By the way, I answer the Phone call from the insurance company for Mr. Young when I came to his salon. If I weren’t there, he would lose a chance to check his insurance.
People taking vaccine
Now, vaccines are available for most of the communities. So far, the situation is getting better and better, But not everyone is lucky. My friend who used to run a milk tea shop had closed his business due to the lockdown. He doesn’t want to show anything related to his life publicly, but one thing for sure is he stayed at home for almost half a year since he ended his career.
Graffiti
The virus changes the world entirely. “The economic situation, on the other hand, is unlikely to improve anytime soon. Falling revenues combined with costly pandemic relief measures have increased global debt by $20 trillion since the third quarter of 2019. By the end of 2020, economists expect global debt to reach $277 trillion, or 365% of world GDP” (World Economic Forum). The high debt ratio is a big challenge toward economic recovery. The federal government release alms, but the debt issue can not be solved yet. Economic after the pandemic is still uncertain.