The U.S. could regain trillions of dollars in legal damages from China for its “cover-up” of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published Monday by the Heritage Foundation.
The report lays out a potential legal roadmap for suing China for its negligence, cover-up and lack of accountability and transparency about the origin and spread of COVID-19.
The Heritage Foundation’s proposed legal strategy navigates around the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA) — a 1976 law which dictates that foreign states are “immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and of the States,” barring some exceptions.
China's government must be held accountable for the pandemic that cost over 28 million lives.
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) July 8, 2024
Read the new report from the @Heritage Nonpartisan Commission on China and COVID-19: https://t.co/VWupKcP22B@JamieMetzl pic.twitter.com/sqYsrvOGAK
“China breached its duties by failing to exercise due care in conducting risky viral research, by negligently misrepresenting facts about the virus beginning in December 2019, by allowing individuals from areas within China known to have COVID-19 infections to travel abroad, and by transporting for profit—without adequate warnings—infected individuals to the United States… thereby causing COVID-19 to spread,” the Heritage Foundation’s Nonpartisan Commission on China and COVID-19 wrote.
The paper also mentions a variety of other legal pathways for holding China and the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) accountable, including “Strict Liability for Abnormally Dangerous Activities.” In this case, the authors argue that China and WIV carried out “abnormally dangerous activity” by performing gain-of-function research and thus are “subject to liability for harm…resulting from the activity.” --->READ MORE HERE
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In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. public health system must focus on critical questions of accountability, politicization and updating data systems if it is to do its job well and maintain the trust of the American people, according to a new report from the Colorado School of Public Health.
The report, authored by Professor Jonathan Samet, MD, MS, of the Colorado School of Public Health and Professor Ross Brownson, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, was published recently in the journal Health Affairs.
In it, the researchers detail the current shortcomings of the public health system, drawing on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of the future challenges it's likely to face, including climate change and retaining a well-educated, motivated workforce.
"As early as November 2020, we anticipated the need for 'reimagining' public health in light of the pandemic," they wrote. "The past several years have made one thing clear: transformation of the U.S. public health system is needed, and needed now."
After interviewing a wide range of public health officers from across the country, the researchers focused on accountability, polarization, climate change, equity, data science, workforce improvement and communication to broader audiences.
"A transformed public health system will depend highly on leadership, funding incentives, and both bottom-up and top-down approaches," said Samet, former dean of the Colorado School of Public Health. "A broad effort is needed by public health agencies, governments, and academia to accelerate the transition to a next phase for public health."
One of the biggest challenges, he said, is politicization.
Trust in public health institutions eroded among many during the pandemic. People questioned vaccine mandates, social distancing, keeping kids out of school and the choices as to which businesses could open and which must shut. Some political leaders attacked science and public health officials, leading to threats of violence. Many quit their jobs. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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