In another troubling revelation, the Biden administration is facing scrutiny after reports emerged that it allegedly suppressed a crucial document suggesting that U.S. service members may have contracted COVID-19 as early as October 2019, possibly in Wuhan. The report, which could have far-reaching implications for the timeline of the pandemic’s origins, was reportedly hidden from the public eye, sparking concerns over transparency and accountability within the administration.
According to a 2022 report from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the report examined the number of “United States athletes and staff who attended the 2019 World Military Games and became ill with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-like symptoms during or shortly after their return to the United States.”
The Department of Defense (DoD) confirmed that seven U.S. service members who attended the 2019 World Military Games exhibited COVID-19-like symptoms between October 18, 2019, and January 21, 2020. However, the symptoms could have been due to other respiratory infections, and all seven service members recovered within six days.
The Biden administration was required by law to release the report to the public more than two years ago. However, they failed to do so. Instead, the report was not made public until the Trump administration uploaded it to the DoD’s website.
The report challenges the Biden administration’s 2021 statement, which asserted that no service members contracted the virus at the games. U.S. athletes traveled to and from the event on chartered flights from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state—one of the first states to experience a significant COVID-19 outbreak.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) criticized the Biden administration for failing to release the report.
“Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about COVID-19 origins, but the Biden administration concealed this information from the American people for years,” Ernst told the Free Beacon. “This report should have been made public immediately and not restricted to Washington insiders. If Americans visiting Wuhan were potentially infected with the COVID-19 virus in October 2019, those claiming the pandemic began in a wet market just two months later would be completely off base.”
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