The bipartisan U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic recently released its 520-page final report on the origin of the virus and its impact on the United States. The committee also provided a summary of its findings. The report is very thorough and includes two years of interviews, hearings, testimonies, and over one million pages of documents.
Let’s start with the origin of the virus. It was first discovered in Wuhan, China, which happens to be the home of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. WIV is China’s main research facility for work on highly contagious and deadly viruses. Employees at WIV became ill with viral-type symptoms in the fall of 2019, several months before the outbreak of COVID 19. In addition, the virus possesses a biologic characteristic not found in nature.
In other words, the evidence is overwhelming that the virus originated in the Wuhan laboratory and not from a random animal. It appears that the World Health Organization caved to the Chinese Communist Party and allowed a natural-origin argument to persist. For unknown reasons, U.S. government officials promoted this theory of a natural origin.
The committee also uncovered data that revealed U.S. taxpayers funded research at WIV through an organization named Ecohealth. This fact was repeatedly denied by government officials.
Fraud and abuse were rampant in the U.S. relief programs. The federal government used taxpayer dollars for paycheck protection programs, unemployment claims, and compensation for small business failures. Tragically, in addition to widespread abuse, at least half of all dollars lost in the relief programs were stolen by transnational fraudsters.
The pandemic definitely targeted certain vulnerable groups. Seniors, the immunocompromised, and people with chronic illnesses were at high risk of suffering the worst effects of the virus. Healthy individuals, especially children, were at very low risk of developing severe complications.
There is no evidence that the six-foot distancing rule, the universal mask mandate, and the draconian lockdowns were effective. What is well known is that thousands of employers went out of business, thousands of employees lost their jobs, and a generation of children lost educational opportunities. Social interactions were severely limited, including being allowed to visit sick and dying relatives. Government bureaucrats and teachers’ unions seemed to react in an emotional fashion rather than an evidence-based manner.
The issue of vaccines remains somewhat controversial. It is clear that vaccine development was expedited and that vaccines saved thousands if not millions of lives. On the other hand, it appears that vaccines did not prevent the spread of the virus nor did government officials consider that natural immunity would prevent the worst effects of the virus.
It is well documented that the U.S. health care system was overwhelmed by the COVID 19 virus. Hospitals were over capacity, diagnoses for non-viral conditions were delayed, and treatments were delayed or not provided.
Unfortunately, the officials most involved with managing the pandemic were less than forthcoming with the committee. They evidently obstructed the committee’s investigation at many levels.
In conclusion, it seems that the people in charge of the pandemic response had a knee-jerk, we-must-do-something mentality without using scientific evidence. There is also a distinct possibility that U.S. government officials did not want to alienate the Chinese government by confirming the lab leak theory.
The congressional report makes clear that lockdowns, mask mandates, forced social distancing, school closures, and mandatory vaccinations should be thrown out of the playbook for any future government pandemic response. Hopefully, the country has learned a lesson and will respond in a much different fashion for the next crisis.