U.S. human rights situation in 2021: American people pay heavy price for U.S. government’s manipulation of COVID-19 prevention and control

By late February 2022, the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. had already surpassed 940,000. (Cartoon by Lu Lingxing)

In 2021, the human rights situation in the U.S., a country which has long had a notorious record, worsened. On Feb. 28, China issued “The Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States in 2021.”

The report points out that, as of late February 2022, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. had exceeded 78 million and the country’s death toll surpassed 940,000. Moreover, the number of COVID-19 deaths recorded in 2021 has far surpassed the total for 2020 in the U.S.

According to an analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California and Princeton University, deaths caused by COVID-19 has reduced the overall life expectancy of Americans by 1.13 years, the biggest drop since the Second World War. Life expectancy was estimated to fall by 2.10 years among African Americans and 3.05 years among Latinos, while the decline was only 0.68 years among whites.

The U.S. government’s unscientific, unequal and irresponsible COVID-19 prevention and control actions have seriously undermined its people’s rights to life and health.

In an attempt to deflect away from the embarrassment caused by their government’s incompetence in responding to COVID-19, some U.S. politicians fabricated the “lab leak theory” on COVID-19 to try to shift the blame to China. (Cartoon by Lu Lingxing)

Despite having the world’s most advanced medical equipment and technology, the U.S. has had the largest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths globally. The U.S. government never reassessed its response measures and to date still lacks effective anti-epidemic plans. Instead, it has stoked up the hype surrounding the origins-tracing of COVID-19, and has been keen on passing the buck, shifting blame and engaging in political manipulation.

The New York Times reported on Nov. 18, 2021, that the pandemic has proven to be a nearly two-year stress test that the U.S. has “flunked,” and that the American people's trust in their government is now “bankrupt.”