NBC reports reports that Vietnamese-owned nail salons in Alabama are donating protective equipment in thousands to hospitals to combat Coronavirus.
Dozens of Vietnamese salon owners in Mobile, Alabama, contributed over 134,000 gloves and 23,000 masks to a local hospital.
Huy Nguyen, owner of Top Nails 2, said he urged his salon owner friends in other cities to do the same.
“Fighting this virus is a responsibility for every one of us,” he said. “We don’t work in the medical field, so we cannot fight the virus directly but we want to share our responsibility and share what we have with the community.”
Lisa Nguyen and her parents, owners of Cowboys Nail Bar in Plano, Texas donated their entire stock to family members working at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
“Whatever we have, we only hope it will help not only our family members but their colleagues,” Nguyen said.
The co-owners of Zen Nails in Brentwood, Tennessee, have even turned their nail salon into a small factory producing face masks and gowns. Polishing machines have been replaced with sewing machines with employees volunteering up to nine hours to make the equipment.
Salon co-owner Trang Nguyen said she has done shifts as a regular nurse before and understands their plight.
“When I saw a lot of them talking about how they are really short on equipment, I really wanted to help,” she said. “These people need to be protected before they can take care of patients. I thought we could do masks and gowns because my family knows how to sew.”
In related news, New York restaurant Jeju Noodle Bar was graffitied with “stop eating dogs” at a time when Asians are receiving racist assault linked to Coronavirus.
