SCAMS-R-US

[XenaLives]

WASHINGTON – Less than a month before data shows the first Chinese citizen became ill with coronavirus, nearly 300 members of the U.S. military, Department of Defense, and support personnel attended the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan, China. When the games ended, they returned to at least 219 home bases in 25 states, without ever being screened for possible COVID-19 infection.

According to the Pentagon, there was no reason to do so then, or subsequently. A spokesperson issued a terse email response to the question, saying there was no screening because the event—held from October 18 to 27, 2019—“was prior to the reported outbreak.”

The spokesperson cited December 31, 2019, as the critical outbreak day and that no testing was deemed necessary for any possible exposure prior to February 1, 2020.

Since that email, Pentagon officials have repeatedly declined to speak on or off the record regarding the subject.

Contrary to the Pentagon’s insistence, however, an investigation of COVID-19 cases in the military from official and public source materials shows that a strong correlation exists in COVID-19 cases reported at U.S. military facilities that are home bases of members of the U.S. team that went to Wuhan.

Before March 31, when the Pentagon restricted the release of information about COVID-19 cases at installations for security reasons, infections occurred at a minimum of 63 military facilities where team members returned after the Wuhan games.

A strong correlation exists in COVID-19 cases reported at U.S. military facilities that are home bases of members of the U.S. team that went to Wuhan.

Additionally, the U.S. team used chartered flights to and from the games via Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Washington was one of the earliest states to show a spike in COVID-19.

“I do think that it is a concern that these people were not tested, especially going into an area that might be a center, a huge probability,” Dr. Ravina Kullar, an infectious diseases expert and epidemiologist based out of Santa Monica, California, said in an interview.

“It may have happened before December, that is the unknown factor,” Kullar said. “We still don’t know who is patient zero. The Chinese government is not being transparent enough.”

Kullar is with Expert Stewardship, Inc., a company that promotes infection prevention in long-term care facilities. She is also a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, a medical association representing physicians, scientists, and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases.

She stressed that the Chinese have not cooperated with the international community in sharing critical information, which is one more reason the Pentagon should have tested the athletes.

“I feel strongly about going with a high prevalence to get tested,” she said.

New data continues to emerge that COVID-19 had already infected people in Wuhan in mid- or early November of 2019, weeks after the games’ conclusion. Recent research released from Harvard and Boston University suggests COVID-19 might have been present in China as early as last August, well before the illness was first publicly identified in Wuhan on December 31.

Athletes who participated from other nations—both U.S. allies like France and Italy and adversaries like Iran—have reported suffering from COVID-19 symptoms. Some Iranian athletes died from COVID-19, including some who were in Wuhan, according to news reports not verified by Tehran.

The Pentagon’s reluctance to test athletes returning from Wuhan was not unique. No other nation’s military appears to have tested their participants in the 2019 World Military Games specifically for COVID-19. French doctors examined their athletes upon their return from the games as part of overall exams.

When asked why the athletes and support staff who had been in China were not screened as a precaution once the COVID-19 threat was known in January, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the end of an April 14 press conference: “I am not aware of what you are talking about.”

The question and response were not included in the Pentagon’s official written transcript of the briefing, as is the normal procedure. The official video of the briefing goes silent when the question is asked and Esper can be seen—but not heard—reacting to the question.

The full audio and video exchange remains on the C-SPAN video of the event.

https://prospect.org/coronavirus/did-the-military-world-games-spread-covid-19/