Monday, April 27 Republican congressional candidate Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl called on Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to sue China for their mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. Two other states, Missouri and Mississippi, have filed civil lawsuits against China, seeking reparations for loss of life, human suffering and economic turmoil.
“The Chinese government and its top institutions need to be held accountable for the nefarious role they have played in the spread of the coronavirus,” Carl said. “China has not only lied about the origination and spread of the virus, but they have also resorted to silencing whistleblowers and hoarding PPE. I am urging Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to file a lawsuit against China to hold them accountable for their actions. Because of China’s lies, Americans have died.”
Carl alleges that Chinese officials failed to take even basic steps to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, continued hosting large gatherings of people, silenced medical professionals who have shared information pertaining to the virus, and allegedly were hoarding Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) while spreading misinformation about the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and coronavirus deaths.
Carl claims that the United States and the state of Alabama have been “directly impacted by China’s lies, deceit, and poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“With the deepest respect, I call upon your office to join other states within our country in bringing litigation against the Chinese government seeking damages for Alabama citizens’ loss of life, human suffering, and economic turmoil, which has devastated our state, and our country due to the Chinese government’s purposeful misinformation related to the coronavirus,” Carl wrote in his letter to Marshall.
“Since the initial outbreak of the coronavirus, initially in the City of Wuhan, the Chinese government continues to intentionally spread misinformation about the progression of this virus, virtually silencing medical professionals who attempted to warn the world of this virus and grossly underreported those individuals affected by it, and those who have died from it,” Carl continued. “The Chinese government continues to spread purposeful misinformation about the virus on social media and through diplomatic channels, and continues to lie to the media outlets about the origins and impact of the virus in China. The Chinese government hoards PPEs and provides false information to the World Health Organization. Had the Chinese government and its top leadership provided transparency in December 2019 and in January 2020, the United States would have been in a much better position to handle this unprecedented pandemic. Clearly, the Chinese government is responsible for the nefarious spread of the coronavirus throughout the world.”
“Therefore, I urge you as the State of Alabama’s top law enforcement official to join with other states in filing a lawsuit to hold the Chinese government morally and economically accountable not only for the deaths of our United States citizens, but also the citizens of Alabama,” Carl concluded.
Jerry Carl faces Bill Hightower in the Republican primary runoff on July 14 for the open First Congressional District. Incumbent Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, is not seeking re-election.
In November the winner of the First District Congressional Republican primary runoff will face the winner of the Democratic primary runoff where James Averhart is running against Kiani Gardner.
