Fear of disease SARS slows visitors to LV’s Chinatown

Monday, April 14, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

The mysterious respiratory disease known as SARS that originated in southern China has slowed the stream of visitors to Las Vegas' Chinatown to a trickle, merchants there said Sunday.

The Clark County Health District, meanwhile, is busy trying to dispel rumors and worries about the disease, reminding the public that there have been "absolutely no cases" of SARS reported in Nevada.

"We did hear a rumor circulating around Chinatown that someone had died from the virus, but that is untrue," health district spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

"We've found that there is a nearly identical rumor that has been making its way through Chinatowns all over the country."

In Las Vegas' Chinatown on Sunday, Rudi Vi sat at one of the tables in his empty Chinatown Express restaurant reading grim news reports in the Asian papers: Five more people had died of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, according to authorities in Hong Kong.

Vi's restaurant is the centerpiece of the Chinatown Mall on Spring Mountain Road.

After arriving in San Francisco 32 years ago, Vi came to Las Vegas six years ago, he said.

"Usually my business is very good," Vi said. "Now everybody's (business in Chinatown) is going down."

With SARS coming on top of terrorism scares and the war with Iraq, Asian businesses that have thrived in the Las Vegas Valley in the past decade are struggling to keep their doors open.

"It is so slow here," Valley Oriental Arts & Crafts clerk Long Lee said Sunday from behind the counter at his Chinatown Plaza shop on Spring Mountain.

"People hear about SARS and they don't want to come over here," said Lee, who arrived in Las Vegas from mainland China three years ago.

"I like this city," Lee said. "I'm not afraid that the disease will come to Las Vegas."

Customer Sally Bucu of Seattle, who is a native of the Philippines, said she works with a surgeon who goes to China all the time.

"He just got back last week," Bucu said. "He's OK, he's fine."

But friends of hers who arrived in Las Vegas by car on Saturday ended up in a local emergency room with flu-like symptoms, Bucu said.

"I don't think it's the disease," she said with a shrug. "I think it's the flu like everyone else has had."

In fact, health officials say unless you recently traveled to Asia or came into close contact with someone who did, those flu-like symptoms are most likely not SARS.

Weighing two green jade statues of a smiling Buddha, Bucu said she would buy one of the statues for good luck.

"If you shop, you take something home," she said. "If you gamble, you may not take anything home."

Julie Te, a native of Cambodia, said that while business at the Oasis gift shop had slowed since the war started, with the SARS scare, hundreds of Asian tourists have stopped visiting the Chinatown Mall.

"You know rumors," Te said. "There's no SARS here, but people always start rumors."

Te's friend, Mai Chunz, who works at the Imperial Palace, said the casino was still busy, but some patrons have expressed concerns about SARS.

"Some people are chicken," Chunz said with a chuckle.

"When you get sick, you get sick," Chunz said. "If you take good care of yourself, you won't get sick."

There are now about 3,000 suspected cases of SARS worldwide, most in Asia, and SARS has killed 144 people, according to health officials.

There have been no deaths from SARS reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Local health officials remain on guard against the spread of SARS here.

In order to combat SARS-related rumors, the health district had officials attend a community meeting in Chinatown last week to discuss the virus. Symptoms of the virus and an overview of the history of the disease were parts of the presentation.

"All of the Urgent Care physicians and emergency doctors have been given the latest information on the virus, as well as the Centers for Disease Control definition so they know what to look for," said Sizemore, the health district spokeswoman. "If a doctor comes across something they think is the virus the health district will be notified."

The health district's Health Alert Network allows information to be faxed out quickly in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease or virus.

Sun reporter Jace Radke contributed to this story.