A classified Department of Defense document, quietly published online in recent weeks and obtained by The Washington Free Beacon, has revealed that several American service members exhibited COVID-19-like symptoms after participating in the World Military Games held in Wuhan, China, in October 2019—well before the first confirmed outbreak of the virus.
The report, originally finalized in December 2022, had not been made publicly accessible as required by law until it was discreetly uploaded to a military quality-of-life webpage in March.
This new disclosure contradicts earlier assertions made by both the Trump and Biden administrations, which had insisted there was no evidence US personnel had fallen ill during the games. In 2021, then-Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told The Washington Post that the military had “no knowledge” of such infections. However, the report indicates that seven US military athletes developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19 during or shortly after the Wuhan event.
Under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the administration was obligated to release the document publicly in a searchable online format by mid-2022. Instead, it was only transmitted to congressional armed services committees in December of that year, and remained hidden from the broader public for over two more years.
The findings lend support to mounting evidence that SARS-CoV-2 may have been circulating in China months before Beijing alerted the global community in December 2019, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
The document's release adds new weight to growing concerns over a potential lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducted controversial gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses with US funding.
The report does note that the illnesses could have stemmed from other respiratory viruses and states there was no statistically significant rise in similar symptoms at the bases where the affected soldiers were later stationed. All seven service members reportedly recovered within six days.
Despite these disclaimers, lawmakers are voicing concerns. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said, “Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about COVID-19 origins, but the Biden administration concealed this information from the American people for years.”
Ernst added, “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.”
Congressional Republicans previously identified the 2019 games as a possible early flashpoint for the pandemic in an August 2021 report. Multiple US intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, have concluded with moderate confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely began with a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
As the origin debate continues, the Pentagon has declined to comment on when it first became aware of the potential infections among the troops or why the report was not published sooner.