A previously unreleased Pentagon document has sparked renewed interest in the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and its possible connection to American military personnel who visited China in late 2019.
According to The Western Journal, a Department of Defense report that was legally required to be made public in 2022 found that seven U.S. service members who participated in the World Military Games in Wuhan exhibited Covid-19-like symptoms between October 2019 and January 2020.
The report's delayed release has drawn criticism from lawmakers, as it was mandated under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to be publicly accessible online. Instead of being published as required in summer 2022, the document only surfaced on a Defense Department website in March 2025 under the Trump administration.
The two-page report documented that all seven affected service members experienced respiratory symptoms that resolved within six days. However, due to the absence of testing capabilities at that time, there was no definitive confirmation whether these individuals had contracted COVID-19 or another respiratory illness.
The military athletes used chartered flights through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to travel to and from the games. This detail has gained significance as Washington state later emerged as one of the earliest U.S. locations to experience a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Medical experts have long expressed concern about the lack of testing for these military personnel. Dr. Ravina Kullar, an epidemiologist quoted in a 2020 American Prospect report, emphasized the importance of investigating these early cases.
Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, and Department of Energy, have concluded that available evidence suggests the virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was located near the World Military Games venue.
A 2022 ProPublica investigation uncovered signs of unusual activity on the Wuhan Institute of Virology's website as early as September 2019, preceding the documented military cases by several weeks.
The Chinese government had previously attempted to shift blame by suggesting American athletes introduced the virus to Wuhan during the games, a claim that this report appears to contradict.
Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa expressed strong criticism of the Biden administration's handling of the report, stating:
Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about COVID-19 origins, but the Biden administration concealed this information from the American people for years. 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.
The Pentagon has not responded to media requests for comment about the delayed release of this crucial document.
Seven U.S. military athletes who attended the World Military Games in Wuhan during October 2019 developed COVID-like symptoms months before the officially recognized outbreak. This revelation comes from a Defense Department report that the Biden administration failed to release as required by law in 2022, only becoming public in March 2025 under Trump's administration.
The document's findings challenge the established pandemic timeline and add weight to theories about the virus's origins at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, while congressional leaders demand answers about why this information was withheld from the public for so long.
