China News Service, Beijing, May 4th,

title : "New crown orphans" reflect the plight of vulnerable groups in the United States

  Author Yin Jia

  The new crown pneumonia epidemic continues to rage, and the ineffective anti-epidemic not only leads to the increase of confirmed cases and deaths, but also causes a large number of social problems.

US media recently disclosed that 200,000 "new crown orphans" in the United States have been forgotten.

What are "coronavirus orphans"?

Is the tragic emergence of this "generational wave of orphans" a "new injury" or a "chronic illness" in American society?

  "COVID-19 orphans," as the name suggests, are children who have lost a parent or other guardian during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, a number of studies have paid attention to this phenomenon and the social problems it may cause.

  The dynamic monitoring of Imperial College London shows that as of April 5, more than 210,000 children in the United States have lost their parents or grandparents as primary guardians due to the new crown epidemic.

  The US "Atlantic" monthly website also published an article recently, "200,000 new crown orphans in the United States have been forgotten": "Even if the United States can face the slaughter of the coronavirus calmly in two years, the level of loss is still shocking and unacceptable: every One in 12 orphans under the age of 18 has lost a parent during this pandemic; an average of two children in every public school in the United States have lost a guardian during this pandemic.”

  The article goes a step further and points out that orphans are at increased risk of substance abuse, dropping out of school and falling into poverty.

They are almost twice as likely to die by suicide as non-orphans and suffer from various other problems.

  In the face of the "secondary crisis" under the new crown epidemic, has the United States, which has always preached so-called "human rights" and "democracy", provide these children in crisis with the protection they deserve?

The answer is obviously no. The US government's "absence" and "inaction" have drawn widespread criticism from the outside world.

  The "Atlantic Monthly" commented that the United States did not take sufficient countermeasures.

While the federal government has set aside money to help pay for the funeral costs of Americans who have died from COVID-19, the money is not nearly enough to meet the long-term needs of orphans.

The article believes that the plight of orphans in the epidemic is not an urgent issue in the United States, and "there is no law or executive order to provide them with any resources." The article also warned that in the face of the largest wave of orphans in a generation, the Biden administration Slow action.

Without a stronger, centralized national strategy, tens of thousands of children are likely to be forgotten.

  In fact, since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, news of violations of children's rights in the United States has continued to emerge.

A survey report by the Brookings Institution, an American think tank, pointed out that "due to the sharp drop in family income due to the epidemic, 20% of American children are in a state of hunger", and "the incidence of domestic violence against children in the United States has risen since the epidemic."

There are also related studies that show that during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the number of gun violence cases in the United States increased by more than 30%, and the number of children who were shot in the hospital surged... Various phenomena reveal the truth that the rights of children in the United States are not protected from different angles.

  Notably, among U.S. children whose rights have been violated, the problem is worse for minority children.

Statistics show that the death rate of Hispanic child guardians is more than twice that of white child guardians.

Ethnic minorities account for 39% of the total U.S. population, but minority "coronavirus orphans" account for 65%.

  Therefore, it is not difficult to judge that although the emergence of "new crown orphans" is a "new injury" brought about by the epidemic, the racial difference behind it is a "chronic illness" in American society.

Behind the plight of the disadvantaged groups in the United States, it reflects the status quo of the democratic rights of people of color and ethnic minorities in the United States.

In the United States, the above-mentioned groups have been deprived of their democratic rights for a long time, treated differently, violated, and forgotten.

Therefore, the United States, whose own democracy is deeply troubled and riddled with holes, is not qualified to call itself a "judge" to judge the democratic status of other countries.

(Finish)