Americans tolerate mass death from COVID-19, shootings: AP

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Americans have become resigned to high rates of death and suffering due to COVID-19 and gun shootings across the country, The Associated Press (AP) has reported.

The sheer numbers of deaths come from "preventable causes," and there is "apparent acceptance" that no policy change is on the horizon, said the report.

"We will tolerate an enormous amount of carnage, suffering and death in the U.S., because we have over the past two years. We have over our history," Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist, was cited by the AP as saying.

Certain U.S. communities have "always borne the brunt of higher death rates," said the report, adding that "there are profound racial and class inequalities in the United States."

Sonali Rajan, a Columbia University professor and researcher on school violence, said elected officials have been neglecting the health and well-being of the public.

Americans "deserve to be able to commute to work without getting sick, or work somewhere without getting sick, or send their kids to school without them getting sick," the AP quoted Rajan as saying.