Seven U.S. service members exhibited “COVID-19-like symptoms” during or after their return from the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan, China, according to a Pentagon report recently made public.
The report indicates the service members had symptoms between Oct. 18, 2019, and Jan. 21, 2020. The symptoms all resolved within six days, according to the report, which is dated December 2022.
The games opened on Oct. 18, 2019, and closed on Oct. 27, 2019.
The service members were not tested for COVID-19, according to the report, because “testing was not available at this early stage of the pandemic.”
The report makes clear that the symptoms “could have been caused by other respiratory infections.”
The first known case of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The first confirmed case outside of China was reported in January 2020.
The CIA said in January it favors the Wuhan lab-leak theory to explain the origin of the virus that led to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the agency said it had little confidence in this conclusion, suggesting the evidence was insufficient or inconclusive.
The agency had previously said it did not have enough information to make a conclusion about whether the virus originated naturally from a wet market in Wuhan or from a lab.
