JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) – Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has sued China, alleging an “appalling campaign” of deceit by authorities there unleashed the COVID-19 pandemic.
She filed her lawsuit May 12 in Mississippi federal court, asserting claims under the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act and the Mississippi Antitrust Law while alleging Chinese officials hoarded items like facemasks.
“During the critical weeks of the initial outbreak, Chinese authorities deceived the public, suppressed crucial information, arrested whistleblowers, denied the existence of human-to-human transmission in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, destroyed critical medical research, permitted millions of people to be exposed to the virus, leading to a global pandemic that was unnecessary and preventable – all in an effort to distract the world while engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices related to the hoarding of necessary personal protective equipment and reselling substandard PPE to a desperate world at inflated prices,” the lawsuit says.
As of May 17, Mississippi is reporting more than 11,000 coronavirus cases and 528 deaths.