Friends in Need

By Sherry Qin

With New York emerging as the U.S. state with the most cases of the novel coronavirus disease（COVID-19）， Jasmine Wang， co-founder of Worldview Global Impact， a non-profit organization， has been collecting personal protective equipment for medical workers on the frontline of the battle against the pandemic.

Her organization and another three non-profits donated 25，000 N95 respirators and fi ve ventilators to the New YorkPresbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center， the largest hospital in New York.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed，”wrote Walter Ian Lipkin， Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the universitys Mailman School of Public Health， in his letter of thanks to Wang and her organization.

The infectious disease expert had assisted the World Health Organization（WHO） and China in 2003 during the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak and had been invited to China to investigate the new virus in January.

Many Chinese and Americans of Chinese descent are putting in time and effort to locate， purchase and donate essential medical supplies to U.S. hospitals.

Despite a section of U.S. politicians calling the virus “Chinese virus” and accusing China of being responsible for the pandemic， Chinese individuals， organizations and companies in both countries have been active in assisting the U.S. with essential medical supplies.

“Politics should not break [the] commonalities that make us humans. We are one family，” Lipkin wrote in his letter.

Corporate assistance

The China General Chamber of Commerce-USA （CGCC）， the largest non-profit organization representing Chinese investment in the U.S.， has made donations through its foundation and also facilitated assistance by dozens of its member companies， including Huawei USA， Bank of China USA， China Telecom Americas and China Construction America.

Xu Chen， CGCC Chairman and President of Bank of China USA， told Beijing Review that they started sourcing medical supplies right after WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.

As of April 13， the CGCC Foundation and its member companies had donated more than 2.47 million pieces of personal protective equipment worth $1.87 million to 35 hospitals throughout the U.S.， as well as some non-profi ts and government departments.

“We donated 50，000 surgical masks directly to the New York City mayors offi ce so that they could distribute them to more hospitals in the greatest need，” Xu said.

Most of the medical supplies the CGCC and its member companies donated were imported from China. The CGCC has made a list of medical supplies that come from China to share it with more U.S. hospitals， state governments and related organizations， Xu said.

The foundations of Jack Ma and Joe Tsai， co-founders of e-commerce giant Alibaba， donated 2.3 million masks， 2，000 ventilators and 170，000 pieces of protective gear to New York， which arrived in two batches on April 2 and 4， according to the New York State Government. It was the biggest private donation to the state so far.

New York had asked for 17，000 ventilators from the federal government， but “that order never came through，” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a press briefi ng on April 4.

The donation from Ma and Tsai met the dire need for ventilators temporarily. “Ventilators remain our greatest challenges… and these ventilators will save lives，” Cuomo said.

Cooperation urged

Over 90 U.S. former government officials， academics and executive offi cers released a statement on the website of the 21st Century China Center， a think tank in San Diego， on April 3， urging the two countries to work together in fi ghting COVID-19.

“No effort against the coronavirus—whether to save American lives at home or combat the disease abroad—will be successful without some degree of cooperation between the U.S. and China，”the statement read. “Chinas factories can make the protective gear and medicines needed to fight the virus； its medical personnel can share their valuable clinical experience in treating it； and its scientists can work with ours to develop the vaccine urgently needed to vanquish it.”

Cui Tiankai， Chinese Ambassador to the U.S.， wrote in The New York Times on April 6 that “solidarity， collaboration and mutual support” between the two countries was needed during this diffi cult time.

Echoing the U.S. experts， he wrote，“We are facilitating the U.S. Governments purchase of personal protective equipment made in China. Indeed， factories are operating in full swing to fulfi ll the orders of medical supplies from New York State and other parts of America.”

Chinese customs data show that China exported 38.6 billion masks， 37.52 million protective gears， 2.41 million infrared thermometers， 16，000 ventilators， 2.84 million test kits and 8.41 million goggles from March 1 to April 4.

Huang Libin， spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， said at a press conference on April 8 that major Chinese ventilator manufacturers had exported 18，000 ventilators since resumption of production after the Spring Festival holiday ended in early February.

（Reporting from New York City）