Pompeo, TV news host turn deaf ear to stigmatizing COVID-19

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fox News host Jesse Watters have drawn fire for turning a deaf ear to repeated warnings by the World Health Organization against stigmatization in the global fight against COVID-19.

In a State Department press briefing on March 5, Pompeo called the novel coronavirus the "Wuhan virus", ignoring the designation by the WHO when it named novel coronavirus pneumonia COVID-19 on Feb 11.

The WHO said it wanted to avoid referring to the virus by a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people. "Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing," WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

With COVID-19 reported in more countries, including a growing number of cases in the United States, the WHO has urged countries to seize the window of opportunity created by China's massive containment measures. "If we don't hit hard now and use the window of opportunity, we might be faced with a serious problem," Tedros said.

However, Watters, a co-host of The Five roundtable program on Fox News, showed little concern about the spread of COVID-19 in the US and the lack of preparedness by its government. Instead he said on March 2, "I'd like to just ask the Chinese for a formal apology".

"This coronavirus originated in China, and I have not heard one word from the Chinese. A simple 'I'm sorry' would do. It would go a long way'," he said, while other participants of the popular program chuckled.

Dana Perino, another co-host and former White House press secretary, interrupted him, asking what if the virus had originated in the US.

COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, but there has been no scientific evidence so far to conclude that the virus originated in Wuhan or other parts of China.

Bruce Aylward, a Canadian epidemiologist and leader of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19, told China Daily in Geneva on March 6 that the virus originated in nature.

He said factors such as growing population, eroding environment and climate change are all contributing to such zoonotic diseases that pass from animal to human. "And this will continue to happen anywhere in the world," he said.

Aylward returned from China in late Feb in a joint mission attended by 25 top international and Chinese experts, including some from US Center for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.

"The important thing is that we work together to try to find the solution. Chinese commitment to international solidarity in the face of things like this is what's important because the next one is going to arrive somewhere else," he said.

Aylward's views are shared by European business leaders. Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said that the problem now is not where the virus originated from, but that people join hands to fight it.

"The world is confronted with the disease. Instead of arguing against each other, we have to do our best to eliminate the virus. China has taken very strong measures, which is a very positive reaction," he told China Daily on March 6.

It was not the first time that Watters drew criticism for controversial, racist remarks. Back in October 2016, one segment made in New York's Chinatown in his Watters' World program on Fox News was widely criticized as racist towards Asian Americans. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio denounced the segment as "vile, racist behavior" that "has no place in our city".

David Gosset, founder of the Europe-China Forum, said the demand for an apology by Watters is absurd since it presupposes that an entire country would be responsible for the emergence of a virus and of its propagation around the world.

"Who would have even thought to ask the American government to apologize for the tragedy connected with AIDS, which was first clinically observed at the very beginning of the 80s in the US?" he said.

"Did Mr Watters notice the 'Great Wall' that the Chinese nation has built in order to manage and stop the epidemic? Why does Mr Watters pretend to ignore Chinese efforts to protect China and the world?" asked Gosset, a Sinologist.

He pointed out that Watters is not only nonsensical but also racist, since on Fox News he associated raw bats, a starving Chinese population and the virus.

"Mr Watters' remarks will certainly be forgotten. He probably wanted a minute of fame; well, he gained nothing but contempt. What will remain is the unity of the world to overcome a highly complex and global health crisis," Gosset said.

Han Baoyi in Geneva contributed to the story.