A Republican County Commission Chairman from Manhattan, Kansas has been slammed after he suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic will not heavily impact his small city as there are ‘not that many Chinese people living there’.
Marvin Rodriguez made the statement Wednesday during a special meeting with local officials to address the outbreak.
Officials were debating whether the community should declare a local emergency, with some saying that the United States was on track to become Italy – where 53,728 people have tested positive to Covid-19, and nearly 5,000 people have died.
According to news outlet The Mercury, Rodriguez wanted to resist the move, claiming Manhattan, Kansas did not have a Chinese population proportionate to the one in Italy.
‘I know that other people [Italy] are having a great problem,’ Rodriguez reportedly said.
‘Someone reminded me that in Italy, they have a lot of garment-people there, fashionistas, and they have a tremendous amount of Chinese there, and that’s where a lot of it started. So we don’t necessarily have any (Chinese people), but I think the board would like to make sure that we’re on top of it, and the board will decide on that part.’
Despite the virus originating in Wuhan, China, Covid-19 has now spread to more than 155 countries around the world – with Europe now finding itself at the center of the pandemic.
Republican County Commission Chairman Marvin Rodriguez has been slammed after he suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic will not heavily impact his city of Manhattan, Kansas as there are ‘not that many Chinese people living there’.
Rodriguez wanted to resist declaring a local emergency, claiming Manhattan, Kansas did not have a Chinese population proportionate to the one in Italy
The state of Kansas has 57 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with one of those in the city Manhattan – which has a total population 53,678.
78% of the population are white. 6% are Asian.
The number of coronavirus cases in the state has quadrupled in the past week.
Manhattan Mayor Usha Reddi slammed Rodriguez for his comments in a Twitter post Thursday.
‘Yesterday, a Riley County Commissioner said this (paraphrasing): ‘We have zero cases. I don’t think it’s a problem here. In Italy they have a lot of Chinese and that’s why they have the virus. We don’t have that problem here’ This needs to stop! This is false information!’ she wrote.
‘Aside from the obvious racism in that comment, let’s be clear, COVID-19 can be spread by anyone regardless of race, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status…and it is in our community. Your job is the protect the community. Stop the games.’
Manhattan Mayor Usha Reddi slammed Rodriguez for his comments in a Twitter post Thursday.
he state of Kansas has 57 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with one of those in the city Manhattan – which has a total population 53,678. Manhattan, Kansas is pictured
When contacted about his comments by The Kansas City Star, Rodriguez stated: ‘I didn’t necessarily say it like that. Italy has a problem with its health department, first. It’s health for everybody. I have a friend in the Navy, and he said in that area’ of Northern Italy where that country’s first cases were reported, ‘there’s a garment industry and a lot of Chinese. If we were like Italy, we’d have it already.’
Rodriguez later went on to insinuate China may have deliberately created the virus before unleashing it.
‘Well, they say it came out of China and I’m not putting it past the Chinese government in communist China [to export it deliberately]. Normally, this kind of thing spreads slowly, so I put two and two together. I’ve been around a long time, girl,’ he told the paper.
Rodriguez isn’t the first politician to be accused of racism when addressing the pandemic.
Earlier this week, President Trump attracted widespread ire when he referred to Covid-19 as ‘the Chinese Virus’. He doubled down on the nickname in spite of outrage.
The number of coronavirus cases continues to skyrocket across the country, with at least 25,433 sickened by coronavirus
While Kansas has far less reported Covid-19 cases than coastal states, there have been two confirmed deaths.
The second death was announced Saturday afternoon. The deceased has been described as a man in his 70s with underlying health conditions and no travel history.
Officials say they are running between 100-200 test kits daily within the state of Kansas, but could run out by the end of the day on Friday.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases continues to skyrocket across the country, with at least 25,433 sickened by coronavirus.
308 people have been confirmed dead as of Saturday evening.
The number of coronavirus deaths has increased enormously in the past week