People wait for a distribution of masks and food in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, US, April 18, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Thursday issued an article titled "The COVID-19 Pandemic Magnifies the Crisis of 'US-Style Human Rights'."

The US government's self-interested, short-sighted, inefficient, and irresponsible response to the pandemic has caused the tragedy in which about 2 million Americans became infected with the virus and more than 110,000 have died from it, the article said.

It has exposed the long-existing and now deteriorating problems in the United States, such as a divisive society, the polarization between the rich and the poor, racial discrimination, and the inadequate protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable groups, according to the article.

"This has led the American people into grave human rights disasters," it read.

The article pointed out that the US government has ignored the pandemic warnings, prioritized capital interests and politicized the anti-pandemic endeavor in its COVID-19 response.

When the virus broke out in the United States, some US politicians used it as a weapon to attack political opponents, viewed it as an opportunity to seize power and partisan interests, and prioritized the response of the capital market, instead of regarding the drive to protect the lives and health of their people as their top priority, it said.

"Due to this, the US government failed to give effective warnings to the public and failed to get prepared for the potential consumption of medical resources caused by the pandemic, bringing the American people to the brink of infection and death," it noted.

The article added that inequality within US society has been fully exposed during the pandemic.

"The pandemic has made the lives of people at the bottom of US society increasingly difficult, and further intensified the social polarization between rich and poor," it said, adding that the high unemployment rate brought about by the pandemic has led the working class into a crisis of survival.

Vulnerable groups in the United States have been struggling to survive during the pandemic, it noted.

The elderly have been the "victims" of the US government's ineffectiveness in fighting the pandemic, which also left the homeless having nowhere to go and poor children and immigrant children in worrisome situation, according to the article.

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