Commentary by Xinhua writer Jiang Li
BEIJING –As this year’s World Humanitarian Day took place yesterday, the dense blood-red dots symbolizing the COVID-19 victims scattered across the United States on an online map maintained by Johns Hopkins University are flashing an alarm over a humanitarian tragedy engendered by a bunch of cold-blooded Washington politicians.
As of late Tuesday night (local time), the number of confirmed cases in the United States neared 5,500,000 with more than 171,000 deaths, according to the tally.
For every government, the novel coronavirus pandemic has brought about an unexpected stress test of their ability to handle a grievous and out-of-the-blue public health crisis and to protect the most basic human rights of their citizens. Washington has flunked the test. That’s ironic, given how the country perpetually brands itself as a defender of human rights.
It is increasingly clear that the still festering tragedy in the United States could be prevented, or at least mitigated, had decision-makers in Washington been humble and responsible enough to take in professional scientific advice on prevention and control. Yet political hubris has blinded decision-making.
Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, regretted the belated mitigation efforts on CNN’s “State of the Union” in April, saying that if the US government “had a process that was ongoing” and started mitigation earlier, the country “could have saved lives.”
Clumsy response
Detailed timelines by The New York Times and The Washington Post recording the US response in the early days of the outbreak have exposed the country’s clumsy pandemic response.
Even to this day as the novel coronavirus infections and deaths keep ballooning under its watch, the White House refuses to admit the errors of its tragic ways.
Instead, some politicians in Washington are cheeky enough to openly declare that the United States is “doing very well,” and brag time and again about the United States having “the lowest” COVID-19 mortality rate in the world, although a CNN fact-checking program showed that among the 20 countries most affected by the deadly pathogen, at least 14 have lower death rates than the United States.
US politicians have also shifted the blame for their own incompetence, manipulating COVID-19 data to perplex the public, snatching much-needed medical supplies from allies, quitting the World Health Organization (WHO) over ill-founded charges, and launching a China-smearing campaign.
Shocking inability
While shocking the world with its inability to contain the outbreak, the current US administration has also displayed its specialty to further inflame some of America’s long-standing social problems that are becoming more acute because of the pandemic, including clamping down on nationwide protests against police brutality and racial discrimination.
Washington’s poor performance in one crisis after another has earned itself another medal of disgrace for its human rights record, which has already been stained in a large part by America’s ruthless overseas military adventures over the decades.
3 major revelations
On this special day dedicated to the global humanitarian cause, it is worth taking stock of three major revelations drawn from America’s super COVID-19 tragedy.
Firstly, people’s lives and health must remain top priority. On this point, narcissistic and overbearing Washington politicians have been cold-blooded.
Secondly, facts and science must be respected. The theme of yesterday’s World Humanitarian Day was #RealLifeHeroes. While hundreds of thousands of heroic doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are on the frontline saving lives, those in the governments should be brave enough to make tough, fact-based decisions to contain the pandemic.
Last but not least, respect and cooperation are the right way forward. No country is able to clinch a final victory in this once-in-a-century global public health crisis. That means everyone needs to join hands to snuff this highly infectious and cunning virus. Facts on the ground have proven that Washington’s unilateralist approach will not only further sink America deep into the abyss of the pandemic, but also sabotage the global solidarity needed to beat the pathogen.
Gregg Gonsalves, co-director of Yale’s Global Health Justice Partnership, has pointed out that Washington’s pandemic response is “close to genocide by default.” With no end in sight to the novel coronavirus genocide, the “city upon a hill” is degenerating into a living hell, and all of Washington’s boastful talk of human rights continue to ring hollow. – Xinhua
