|
According to CNN, Azar made the relevant remarks while accepting CNN's state of the Union program, which was hosted by Jack Tupper. Novel coronavirus pneumonia deaths were approaching 90 thousand at the beginning of the program. Zal blamed the cause on the health of the Americans, and said, "unfortunately, the population of the United States is very diverse, and it is a group of people with serious unhealthy health conditions. This makes many people in our community, especially African Americans and ethnic communities, face risks. Because these populations have potential health differences and comorbidities. This is an unfortunate legacy of the American health care system, and of course we have to address it. "
When tasked asked novel coronavirus pneumonia, Zal's remarks were suggesting that many Americans died of new crown pneumonia because they were "more unhealthy than those in other parts of the world". Zal denied it, but further said that the burden of comorbid diseases in the United States is not proportionate (including obesity, hypertension, diabetes). At risk for any type of disease. "
When Tupper asked if this meant that it was "American's fault" to cause such a high death toll, Azar said "it's not a mistake" and said it was simple epidemiology, "if we have high blood pressure, diabetes, we're at risk of serious complications from the new coronavirus.".
Azar's statement was quickly questioned by the US media. CNN cited the results of a study released by the American public media (APM) on May 11, pointing out that the death toll in the United States at that time exceeded 80000, of which only 17155 were black.
Vox also analyzed in an article that it is true that "public health injustice has increased the number of deaths of people of color." however, it is a kind of evasion to blame the main reason that the death toll of the United States exceeds that of other countries in the world. This seems to imply that ethnic minorities, rather than the federal government, should be responsible for this.
The U.S. media also pointed out that the more direct and broader explanation for the cause of the unusually high death toll in the United States should be the "chaotic" and "anti scientific" response of the US government to the pandemic. Even if people of color do have poor health, it is the result of their long-term socio-economic marginalization and unequal access to nutrition. In other words, novel coronavirus pneumonia can be overthrown, not because of the rise in the number of deaths caused by colored races in the United States, but by the US government in promoting the death of colored people. Zal's speech is not a case in point. |
|