In early 2020, Lili Wu was already "armed to the teeth" whenever she ventured to public places near her home in Port Coquitlam, B.C. — face mask, sanitizer, protective eyewear and gloves.

It was more than a month before the World Health Organization's March declaration of a global pandemic that introduced most other Canadians to concepts like masking and social distancing.

But for Wu and many other members of Canada's Chinese-speaking communities, the outbreak that was exploding out of Wuhan, Chi…