The medical experts at The View Wednesday, sneered at Surgeon General Jerome Adams after he warned minority communities to stop dangerous lifestyle choices, such as smoking, that greatly increase one’s risk for dying from coronavirus at last Friday’s task force briefing. As data continues to show how black communities have been impacted disproportionately by COVID-19, co-host Sunny Hostin invited the show’s guest, Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to spurn the Surgeon General’s common sense advice and insist that we needed socialism to combat “systemic racism” instead.
Even though Ocasio-Cortez is a former bartender without any medical experience or degrees, View co-host Sunny Hostin encouraged her to explain why the nation’s top medical expert was wrong about why certain demographics were getting hit harder by the coronavirus. Hostin was offended at the notion that “personal responsibility” had anything to do with one’s health, instead claiming it was because of the country’s racism towards African-Americans and Latinos:
Congresswoman you know the Surgeon General suggested last week that African Americans and Latinos should step up and stop and stop behaviors like drinking and smoking to help curb the spread of coronavirus in their communities. I thought his comments reinforced the notion that personal responsibility is to blame for the racial health disparity, rather than systemic racism. What did you make of that?
Of course this was just an easy layup for the Democrat to tout socialized medicine as the answer for the country’s “systemic racism” and “systemic inequality:"
I completely agree... It’s inequality that’s a pre-existing condition...You know a lot of these pre-existing conditions have to do with the inability to access quality healthcare. The inability to afford quality healthcare because we live in a country that continues to have a for profit health care system unlike the rest of the developed world…
...At the end of the day, that’s [smoking] not why there’s such a high incidence of coronavirus that is impacting these communities disproportionately. It is systemic inequality. And we have to take responsibility for those inequities and we have to make sure that we respond to it not with a personal choice but with public policy.
Ocasio-Cortez also falsely claimed that “personal responsibility” was not being discussed until minority communities were hit (does “social distancing” not involve personal responsibility?), before downplaying the role lifestyle choices have on obesity, lung disease and other related comorbidities that the CDC says greatly increase your risk of being hospitalized by COVID-19.
The View proudly tweeted out AOC's irresponsible advice in the video tweet below:
.@AOC on surgeon general singling out minorities to “step it up” and “avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs”: “That’s not why there is such a high incidence of coronavirus that is impacting these communities disproportionately — it is systemic inequality.” https://t.co/KLrtwblAEX pic.twitter.com/ExQRctOBwf
— The View (@TheView) April 15, 2020
The Democrat congresswoman also used her answer to push for more environmental regulations:
“Public policy has polluted these communities, poisoned our air, has poisoned our water and that is what is creating the large-scale pre-existing conditions that are making our communities much more vulnerable than others,” she touted.
Read the transcript of the exchange, below:
The View
4/15/2020
SUNNY HOSTIN: Congresswoman you know the Surgeon General suggested last week that African Americans and Latinos should step up and stop and stop behaviors like drinking and smoking to help curb the spread of coronavirus in their communities. I thought his comments reinforced the notion that personal responsibility is to blame for the racial health disparity, rather than systemic racism. What did you make of that?
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I completely agree. It’s so funny how this pandemic that when this was impacting, when it was impacting the elderly, when it was impacting all sorts of people we didn’t talk about personal responsibility. We only started talking about taking personal responsibility over contracting coronavirus, when we started talking about black americans contracting it at a higher rate. Obviously there are certain things we can do to make sure that pre-existing conditions don’t exist , but ultimately it’s inequity that’s the pre-existing condition. It’s inequality that’s a pre-existing condition. You can’t just go to someone and tell them, ‘hey, you should’ve had health care this whole time’ when you’re working, you know when you’re working an hourly job and your employer doesn’t give it to you. You know a lot of these pre-existing conditions have to do with the inability to access quality healthcare. The inability to afford quality healthcare because we live in a country that continues to have a for profit health care system unlike the rest of the developed world. And on top of that, you know, the Bronx we have a mortality rate that is twice---we have a COVID mortality rate that is twice the level of the rest of New York City. You know what’s not a coincidence? The fact that the Bronx has one of the highest asthma rates in the United States. And a lot of that has to do with environmental inequities. That oftentimes--Just look at Flint, just look at Baltimore, just look at the Bronx, that public policy has polluted these communities, has poisoned air, and poisoned our water and that is what is creating the large-scale pre-existing conditions that are making our communities much more vulnerable than others. And so yes, you know, if you’re smoking you should consider to stop and that goes for everybody, at the end of the day, that is not why there’s such a high incidence of coronavirus that is impacting these communities disproportionately. It is systemic inequality. And we have to take responsibility for those inequities and we have to make sure that we respond to it not with a personal choice but with public policy.
