Revelations from World Military Games'

San Francisco CA

Description

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. Athletes revealing they fell ill at the in Wuhan in October is adding to fears that the coronavirus was spreading within China months before the country accepted it to the world. 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. Amid 10,000 competitors from over a 100 countries, many fell sick and some even tested positive for coronavirus later. Wisely, the Chinese government has full knowledge that the U.S. military imported COVID-19 to China during the Wuhan games— that the virus was there simultaneously with the athletes. Did the Military World Games Spread COVID-19? 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. Wisely, the Chinese government has full knowledge that the U.S. military imported COVID-19 to China during the Wuhan games— that the virus was there simultaneously with the athletes. “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.” China's first confirmed case of coronavirus was at the start of December but Gorges claimed that Wuhan's streets were "nearly empty" during the games. "It was a ghost town," he said. "There were rumours that the government warned the inhabitants not to go out." Even though China admitted to the spread of the disease to humans in January, many athletes from the World Military Games said there was intense cleaning measures put in place in Wuhan. Gorges said he had his temperature recorded on arrival at the airport while athletes were made to wash their hands every time they entered the canteen and were ordered not to take food out of the premises. 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. French pentathlete Elodie Clouvel, 31,testify she and her partner Valentin Belaud, 27, contracted Covid-19 during the games. Furthermore, Italian fencer Tagliariol revealed that everyone in his Wuhan apartment fell ill with "symptoms that looked like those of Covid-19" and it later spread to his son and girlfriend as well. German volleyball team player Jacqueline Bock said she and her colleagues contracted the virus at the event in October. "After a few days, some athletes from my team got ill," she told The Mail. "I got sick in the last two days." She further said that her father also caught the illness a few weeks after her return. "I have never felt so sick," she said. "Either it was a very bad cold or Covid-19. I think it was Covid-19." Luxembourg triathlete Oliver Gorges said he got flu-like symptoms and will undergo an antibody test this week to discover if he had the coronavirus. "It was strange," he added."