A Defense Department report from 2022, recently made public, sheds new light on the COVID-19 outbreak timeline.
According to Fox News, A key disclosure from the report indicates that seven U.S. service members developed symptoms resembling COVID-19 after attending the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan, months before the virus was officially reported.
These revelations contradict previous statements by the U.S. government downplaying the possibility that the virus could have been contracted at the event. Previously, the Biden administration averred in 2021 that none of the American participants had contracted the virus during the games.
Seven individuals from the U.S.'s 263-member delegation at the games in October developed symptoms before the disease became known globally. Their symptoms began between October 18, 2019, and January 21, 2020, and each case resolved within six days.
These early cases hold particular significance because the symptoms appeared weeks before China reported the first official COVID-19 cases. As a result, these findings cast doubt on the accuracy of the virus's origin and spread timeline.
Former President Donald Trump's administration released the previously withheld report only in late March 2025. Although officials prepared it two years earlier, they never published it online, prompting concerns about transparency and delays in sharing potentially vital health information.
Intelligence agencies such as the CIA, FBI, and the Energy Department have begun expressing the belief that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This institution, located near the venue of the World Military Games, conducted gain-of-function research partly funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Meanwhile, officials did not administer COVID-19-specific tests to the service members after their return, since they had not yet developed diagnostic capabilities for the novel virus. However, health authorities later recorded increased cases of COVID-19 in Washington state, a primary entry point for the returning U.S. team.
Former Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby initially stated no knowledge of infections among the troops from the event. However, this report's disclosures bring his earlier declarations into doubt, suggesting that earlier detection and travel restrictions might have mitigated the pandemic's spread.
Former Rep. Mike Gallagher underscored the potential consequences of delayed information sharing:
Those months were critical and could have helped the United States understand the disease and shut down travel earlier in order to stop the spread and ultimately save potentially millions of lives.
This delay in disseminating the Defense Department's findings has led to scrutiny over the reasons behind withholding information that could have been critical in the early stages of the global response to the pandemic.
Additional reports confirmed that international athletes exhibited similar symptoms after the games, further supporting the possibility that the event significantly spread the virus, earning it the label of a potential "super spreader" event. Although these early cases emerged, officials did not report significant outbreaks of COVID-19-like symptoms at Defense Department facilities across the U.S. after the athletes returned, suggesting that they initially contained the virus among affected personnel.
As the world continues grappling with COVID-19, the fresh insights from the newly released report highlight the ongoing need for transparency and rigor in investigating the pandemic’s origins. The implications of these findings are vast, touching on international relations, public health policies, and the management of future outbreaks.
