May Zhang was in Pennsylvania, but her heart was a world away.

Zhang is a team lead in the technology division of Trevose, PA-based ASI, Counselor’s parent company and the promotional products industry’s largest membership organization.

May Zhang, ASI

Originally from China, Zhang’s family lives overseas in Shangdong, a coastal province that’s about 600 miles northeast of Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the COVID-19 outbreak began.

As reports of viral spread and related travel/movement restrictions to check the disease’s growth in China poured in, Zhang forged ahead with her daily life in the U.S., but had to do so with her family and the people of her homeland weighing heavily on her mind.

“I feel lucky for my family, that they have not been infected,” she told Counselor. “I also feel very sad for the people in Wuhan and Hebei province. They have suffered a lot from this virus. A lot of people who did nothing wrong, including doctors and nurses, lost their lives.”

Zhang’s story highlights the human element that sometimes can get lost in the COVID-19 headlines and talk of the virus’ impact on supply chains, stock markets and the global economy. When infection rates and death tolls are reported, they’re not just numbers; they’re real people.

In the North American promotional products industry, which relies heavily on Chinese production for the majority of products sold here, there are many professional relationships, friendships, directly employed staffers and, in cases like Zhang’s, even familial connections with people in China who’ve been living in a frustrating, frightening, surreal reality transformed by coronavirus.

‘All You Can Do Is Hope and Pray’
“Really all you can do is hope and pray,” says Randy Chen, president of Cherry Hill, NJ-based Impex International, a company that specializes in importing, sourcing and warehousing for the promotional products industry.

Chen has an overseas office with four employees in Ningbo, China. Meanwhile, his parents were in Taiwan when COVID-19 broke out. His mother has since returned to the United States and is healthy. His elderly father, who winters in Taiwan and is healthy, remains overseas in Taiwan, where COVID-19 cases have been confirmed but not at near the high rate of mainland China. Since coronavirus reared, concern for his family and staffers has been a part of Chen’s daily existence.

“You try to look at the current statistics on coronavirus and the history of these major viruses, and together those tell us that most of us are probably going to be OK and that eventually all these diseases die out,” Chen says. “You have to try to think about it in that way.”

Four coronavirus-driven Chinese consumer trends that will last even after the epidemic has subsided https://t.co/IMsQJc6lMz

— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) March 3, 2020

If there’s a bright side, it’s that the infection rate in China has been steadily declining – a sign containment measures may be proving successful. Still, COVID-19 has infiltrated every continent, except for Antarctica. Confirmed cases are on the rise everywhere from Italy and Iran, to South Korea and the United States. As of press time, there were at least 91,000 cases of novel coronavirus around the globe. Most of those cases – more than 80,000 at least – were in China, which is where the majority of the more than 3,100 COVID-19-related deaths have occurred.

‘Lives Changed Forever’
The reality on the ground in China has had a direct impact on everyday folks with ties to promo. On a professional relationship level, China-based employees for industry companies like California-based Top 40 distributor BAMKO (asi/131431) and Prime Line (asi/79530), the hard goods division of Pennsylvania-based Top 40 supplier alphabroder (asi/34063), have had their lives disrupted. They’ve been working remotely as a precaution, and Prime has sent masks to employees. “The safety of our employees, vendors and friends in Asia is the most important aspect of this situation,” Prime President Jeff Lederer told Counselor.

Public health remains the priority as city gets back to work https://t.co/gNlihh7dyx

— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) March 3, 2020

For those like Zhang, the effects of coronavirus are even closer to home.

“Daily life for my family has been very different from normal,” Zhang says. “They can only go out for grocery shopping once or twice a week. There’s no gathering with friends, eating out, etc. Everyone has to wear masks in public areas. My sister has a small business. She had to delay the re-opening date after Chinese New Year was extended, and business has been very light. My parents are retired. They’re cooperating, as they see self-isolation as necessary to control the spread. My nephew, on the other hand, is very frustrated. He could not see his friends in person and has had no real social activity. He had to cancel his birthday party, too.”   

Zhang had planned to take a two-week trip to China to visit her family in the latter half of February. The flight was canceled, but even if it hadn’t been, she wouldn’t have gone. “It wouldn’t be safe – not for me, my family or my co-workers at ASI,” she says.

Even as infection rates have fallen, restrictions on travel and movement haven’t eased for Zhang’s family. “They’ve actually become more restricted due to the outbreak in South Korea, which has more international direct flights to Qingdao (my hometown) than any other counties,” Zhang says. “My family just hopes it’s over very soon. They want to get back to normal life, but their daily lives will probably be changed forever.”