Revelers at the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration in Lower Manhattan offered an emotional message of support Sunday for their loved ones back in China, telling them to “stay strong” amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The touching show of solidarity was even displayed on some floats in the annual parade, with the words, “STAY STRONG WUHAN” and “STAY STRONG CHINA” plastered on them as China battles to contain the virus that originated in Wuhan.
“We are here celebrating the Chinese New Year first, but we are also concerned about the people in China,” said China native See-yuen Kuet, 70.
Still, noting that no one in the crowd appeared to be wearing a surgical mask for supposed protection against the virus, Kuet added defiantly, “We’re not scared.”
Queens resident Winona Kwok, 29, walked in the parade to stand strong for those overseas, pointing out that “some of our friends in China and Hong Kong cannot even find a mask right now.”
“We want to send a message today to people from Hong Kong and China and that is to stay strong,” Kwok said. “We can fight this virus.”
While some cities, such as Paris and Miami, have canceled new year celebrations amid the coronavirus outbreak as a precautionary measure, massive crowds flocked to Sunday’s parade in lower Manhattan.
There were around 20,000 people at the celebrations — on par with the crowd size in previous years, according to state Sen. John Liu.
“We have no confirmed cases in New York and we want people to know Chinatown is open and as vibrant as ever,” New York state Senator Brian Kavanagh said.
Overseas in mainland China, the virus has spread to more than 37,000 and killed 811 people.