A newly uncovered military report raises questions about the initial spread of COVID-19. A group of American military service members developed symptoms resembling those of COVID-19 during their participation in the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan, China. This event took place months before the disease's first reported cases.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Biden administration delayed the public release of a report about the symptomatic U.S. troops, contradicting earlier timelines of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The World Military Games, an event drawing military athletes from around the globe, occurred in October 2019. Located near the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been at the center of controversy over its coronavirus research, the games now also spotlight potential early virus transmission.
Despite legal obligations to disclose a detailed account of these health incidents by the summer of 2022, this critical information remained under wraps. It was only in late March that the documentation was silently uploaded to a Defense Department website, bypassing public awareness and congressional insight.
The U.S. service members traveled through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, a notable factor since Washington state became one of the first significant COVID-19 hotspots in the country.
The Pentagon didn't test these military athletes post-games, a decision based on the timeline before the acknowledged pandemic outbreak.
Scores of military personnel from various nations competing at the Wuhan games reported similar unsettling symptoms. This collective occurrence hints at a possible earlier virus spread than formerly recognized.
Richard Ebright, a professor from Rutgers University, criticized the administration and congressional leaders for withholding this pivotal information. "It is an outrage that the Biden White House and the 118th Congress Senate and House Armed Services Committees did not publicly release this information when it became available in 2022, but, instead, withheld this information for the duration of their terms," Ebright expressed.
Ebright further noted that this revelation aligns with other intelligence and research data, positing the virus's presence in Wuhan from as early as October 2019. This assertion suggests that the conventional narrative of the virus emerging in late December might be flawed.
Sen. Joni Ernst echoed these concerns, emphasizing the taxpayers' rights to the undisclosed truths behind COVID-19's origins.
According to Ernst, "Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about COVID-19 origins, but the Biden administration concealed this information from the American people for years," signaling significant missteps in handling critical public health data.
In contrast to the detailed findings in the document, John Kirby, a former Biden Defense Department spokesman, previously informed the Washington Post in June 2021 that the military had "no knowledge" of any troops affected by COVID-19 from those games. This statement now appears controversial in light of the evidence provided in the military report.
Relevant federal agencies including the CIA, FBI, and Energy Department now increasingly lean towards the theory of the virus accidentally escaping from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Such conjectures, supported by the surfacing military report, create a complex tableau of oversight, delayed action, and potential miscommunication during the critical initial months of the pandemic's evolution.
As investigations continue and public scrutiny intensifies, the true genesis of COVID-19 remains a vital global concern, shadowed by these latest revelations about early infections and the procedural lapses in addressing them promptly.