Rick Scott Photo: Xinhua

US senator Rick Scott tweeted on Wednesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) has helped China "cover up a global pandemic." He said he is calling for "a Congressional investigation into what the WHO knew and when they knew it."

The COVID-19 epidemic is raging in the US, but Scott is still attacking China and the WHO instead of doing something useful to the US fighting against the virus. If he has so much spare time, he should have called for a Congressional investigation into the US CDC and other federal departments. Perhaps Congress should appoint him head of the inspection team. 

Scott may as well investigate "what the US government knew and when they knew it" before the COVID-19 outbreak run rampant in the country. Did the US government really know nothing about the virus, or did it conceal the information on purpose?

China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus with the WHO in early January. The COVID-19 outbreak in the US came nearly two months later, but its severity and death toll have far surpassed those of China, which didn't have an advanced warning. Doesn't Scott want to investigate how the US has missed the opportunity - the precious window of time given by China's great sacrifices to the world - to prevent the epidemic that is raging across his country?

Former US CDC chief Dr Thomas Frieden said that the robust screening of the virus in the US was absent until it was "far too late," reflecting failures throughout the US government. Under the CDC's previous testing guidelines, only those who recently traveled from China or had contacts with people who were infected could qualify to be tested. 

Because of such arrogance, the virus was likely spreading in the US for quiet a period of time before the government took any action. Scott had better investigate these startling facts, including how four US senators sold their stock holdings shortly after coronavirus briefings in late January and then failed their duty to protect public health.

When the epidemic broke out in China, the country was facing a completely unknown virus. Compared to the US, China's response was lightning faster. After senior US politicians became aware of the situation, they chose to conceal the advanced information, instead of releasing warnings to the people. How could the US' so-called effective intelligence system be so useless?

Some homeless people in the US were still sleeping in an open-air parking lot, according to a CNN report on Tuesday. Where are their "human rights"? How can the rich and the poor be treated so unequally in this fight against the COVID-19? This is something politicians like Scott should be investigating.

For US politicians, attacking China has become daily routines aimed at enhancing their own political capital. These elected politicians share deep responsibility for the over 210,000 infected people in the US, but, even today, they are still passing the buck to and smearing and stigmatizing China instead of having self-reflection. This would be absurd, if it weren't so sad.

China's achievements in containing the epidemic are obvious to any one with conventional wisdom, yet some US politicians have chosen a fight over ideology rather than preserve human life. This is a matter of life and death, and these US politicians should focus their efforts on saving the lives of the US people, if not people elsewhere as well. Badmouthing the Chinese model and blackening the Chinese system will do nothing to eliminate the virus and only serve to bring into disrepute the so-called US transparent and advanced democratic system.