Department of Defense 2019 World Military Games report does not provide evidence of Early Spread of the thing named SARS-CoV-2 or incidence of a disease the WHO called COVID-19
A newly-released Department of Defense report about illness experienced by U.S. athletes at the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan is not evidence of early incidence or “spread” of COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2.1
Published in December 2022 under the Biden administration, Report to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives, 2019 World Military Games is a response to Section 1068.of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 (Public Law 117-81), which directed the Secretary of Defense to provide a report addressing specific inquiries.
What the report says
Of the 263 total members of the U.S. contingency, 7 (3%) “exhibited” COVID-19-like signs and/or symptoms between October 18, 2019, and January 21, 2020.
The specific symptoms were not detailed, and the report noted they “could have been caused by other respiratory infections.” All seven service members recovered within six days.
No COVID-19-like illness outbreaks were reported at the military facilities to which these individuals returned.
None of the U.S. service members who participated in the Games were tested for COVID-19 or antibodies, because “testing was not available at this early stage of the pandemic.”
According to data from military treatment facilities, there was “no statistically significant difference in COVID-19-like symptom cases at installations with participating athletes compared to installations without them.” Additionally, “no significant increase in COVID-19-like signs and/or symptoms” was documented from October 2019 through March 2020 through separate Army surveillance testing.
As of December 2022, the Department of Defense had not initiated an investigation into a possible connection between the outbreak of COVID-19 and the 2019 World Military Games.
Commentary
For purposes of this reaction, it is assumed COVID-19 signs/symptoms are synonymous those associated with respiratory illness, flu, and the common cold.
There is nothing unusual whatsoever about 7 military service personnel (hereafter “the 7”) experiencing such symptoms over the course of three fall and winter months.
None of “the 7” is reported to have been hospitalized, and their symptoms resolved in less than a week. Given the speed of recovery - and the report saying the symptoms could have been caused by other respiratory infections - there is no reason to believe the illness(s) which befell “the 7” were remarkable.
Whether “the 7” were seen by a doctor, tested, or given any treatments or directives regarding their illness is undisclosed. The lack of testing for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) is irrelevant since “the 7” apparently did not experience unusual or difficult-to-resolve illness; a test result would not have improved treatment or resolution. Antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 is non-specific and unreliable, and would not yield meaningful information.
Typically, an “outbreak” is defined as two or more epidemiologically-linked cases. Because DoD has not conducted or opened an investigation into connections between the outbreak of COVID-19 and the 2019 World Military Games, it can be inferred that incidence of illness among “the 7” occurred over a longer period of time (versus two or more becoming ill at the games or 2 or more being connected enough to be considered epidemiologically linked). That there were no “outbreaks” of illness which could be retrospectively seen as COVID-19 at the facilities to which “the 7” service personnel returned challenges the hypothesis that participants in the games returned to their respective bases and “seeded” the virus.
The report also implies normal flu surveillance did not detect unusual or high incidence of activity. Assuming surveillance includes visits or hospitalizations for influenza-like illness (ILI) and influenza testing, the idea that “COVID-19” was “hiding” in the flu at certain military installations is not well-supported.
Regardless of what one believes about the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, influenza viruses, or respiratory illness, none of the information in the report supports a case for the “spread” of anything. Insofar as the report being “concealed” by the Biden administration, it is far more likely that the release was strategically timed to support the lab leak hypothesis and its variants, with the idea of it being held back contributing to an intelligence-directed plot line about the origins of a ‘global pandemic.’
Lingering Questions
The report responds to each request made of the Secretary of Defense; I see no “missing” information with respect to what Congress asked DoD to supply and am with the following questions:
The directive for the report says it “may contain a classified annex.” (Relevant section below.) No annex is referenced in the body of the report; was an annex produced?
The report mentions “separate surveillance testing” by the U.S. Army but no such testing by any other military branch. Why? Does the timeframe for that testing end with March 2020 (March 31, 2020) versus the normal end of flu surveillance testing (~May) due to the advent of mass testing for SARS-CoV-2?
What is the significance of the October 18, 2019 and January 21, 2020 timeframe, i.e., why does the timeframe end with January 21, 2020, which is the same day that the first “case” of COVID in the U.S. was announced?
U.S. military service personnel are required to take the flu shot before a certain date. (Some exemptions apply.) Travel to the military games would have compelled vaccination prior to departure. What was the flu shot status of the U.S. contingency?
Did any members of the U.S. contingency experience illness or adverse health events at the Games or in the months thereafter not classified as COVID-19 symptoms?
Per a WHO-China joint report issued in February 2021, there were 9,308 participants at the Games.2 Regarding illness, the report says, “Four African participants were diagnosed and treated for malaria, and one U.S. citizen presented with gastroenteritis. The Jinyintan Hospital provided medical support for the games, including on-site clinics (data from these clinics have not yet been evaluated by the joint team)” and concluded that “no appreciable signals of clusters of fever or severe respiratory disease requiring hospitalization were identified during review of these events.” There was a recommendation to conduct “further joint review of the data on respiratory illness from the on-site clinics at the Military Games in October 2019.” Was this review conducted? If so, what did it reveal?
The Wuhan location of the 2019 World Military Games was announced in November 2017. How strategic was this choice? (Why was this location chosen?)
There were no contemporaneous reports of unusual illness or high incidence of respiratory illness during the games — only retrospective accounts from athletes in various countries and a story about eleven athletes from Iran dying from coronavirus.3 The “first” report of a possible connection between the Games and the “coronavirus outbreak” appears to have come from a tweet by a Chinese official, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, on 12 March 2020.4 Five years later, isn’t it reasonable to wonder if the 2019 World Military Games sub-plot is a ruse - one planted long before a pandemic was declared?
Post Publication
At the very end of a Department of Defense press briefing on 14 April 2020, a reporter asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Mark Mille about the team that went to Wuhan for the games:
Reporter: THE ESSENTIAL SCREENING FOR THE MILITARY TEAM THAT WENT TO WUHAN IN NOVEMBER, IN WUHAN?
Esper: I'M NOT AWARE.
Esper and Mille’s non-verbal reactions are open to interpretation; both seem genuinely perplexed. Mille, for his part, lifts his eyebrows in a way that suggests intrigue.
On 30 June 2020, The American Prospect published a story promoting the idea that the Military Games were “a vector for spreading disease in the U.S. and around the world.” Something is spreading — not there is a virus — was the core of the ‘pandemic’ story. Take away “spread” and the story falls apart.
Post subject to updates with additional observations/content.
These are not synonymous. SARS-CoV-2 is the name given to a coronavirus said to cause the disease COVID-19.
…which we can add to the ludicrous series of events staged in that country. See The Time a Coronavirus Hit Iran. Clarification: The unverified news story about the 11 athletes deaths was not explicitly linked to the 2019 World Military Games but did help the “virus from afar” storyline and the idea that “young and otherwise healthy” people were at risk from a spreading disease.
Wow! 7 athletes out of 263 had cold symptoms during the event! I guess this is unprecedented.
"Athletes who compete in events sanctioned by, are members of, or license holders of a National Governing Body or International Federation, or who fall under the USADA testing jurisdiction as defined in the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, are subject to blood testing."
https://www.usada.org/sample-collection-process/blood/