The Report is Out - Part I:

Some things to like; some things to hate ...

The Report is Out - Part I:

For those who have not been following that closely, the “Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic” has finally come out (12/2/24) with its report after two years of study. The report has been variably praised for its bravery in getting to the bottom of the COVID response or panned as another “limited hangout” that admits to a few errors while largely protecting the ‘guilty’ and giving the perpetrators of the botched response a pass. “Botched,” by the way, suggests good intentions and poor execution. I think intentional malfeasance is still very much on the table.

First, what does the report say? Well, here it is in full so you can see for yourself, if you have the time and energy:

AFTER ACTION REVIEW OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward

I’ll wait … it’s only 557 pages long. OK, never mind … I didn’t read the whole thing either but did review very much of the report for your benefit.

The report should be viewed in the light of its being a so-called “after-action” report, that is, analysis of what went right and what went wrong. This may be used to guide future responses to similar types of incidents. That much is standard fare for any post-action review.

In this case, the report is two years in the making having its origins in the formation of the select committee in early 2022.

Leading the efforts of this subcommittee is one Brad Wenstrup, a member of the US House of Representatives from Ohio (second district). Both a member of the US Army Reserve and a pediatrician, he has served in the House since 2013, and I believe he is retiring after this term concludes. He spent time in Iraq as a physician with his unit in 2005 and 2006. His physician credentials can be considered to bode well … or ill … for this report. He notes at the beginning his reputation for congeniality and working well across the aisle. Again, this can be construed as a plus, or a minus.

Wenstrup notes that the committee sent over 100 investigative letters, conducted more than 30 interviews and depositions, and had 25 hearings/meetings. They reviewed over a million pages of documents as well. He notes that this is the single most comprehensive document reviewing the pandemic response to date. That may well be true.

I am always suspicious of these “internal investigations.” I consider this internal because, although it is a Congressional duty to conduct oversight on other branches of government, too often they are so intertwined, and Congress is so dependent on cooperation from other branches, that often these committees never actually get to the nub of the matter.

Still and all, here are the conclusions from the letter accompanying the report (in my words, not the original):

1. The “lab leak” theory is NOT a conspiracy theory.

2. Peter Dazak of EcoHealth Alliance (you may remember him as being the conduit for US illegal funding of the Wuhan Lab’s research on gain of function) ought never again receive US tax dollars.

3. Scientific messaging must be clear and concise and come from trusted sources … importantly such as “front-line doctors treating patients.”

4. Public Health officials will need to work to regain trust. Americans want to be educated and NOT indoctrinated by their government.

5. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is guilty of “medical malpractice” and covered up the nursing home deaths in his state. This one is interesting since Cuomo is not a practicing physician so the concept of malpractice is striking in this usage here.

Other findings mentioned are these:

1. The NIH did fund gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

2. The Chinese, the US and other international actors engaged in a cover up of many facts relating to the origins of the pandemic.

3. Operation Warp Speed was a success and saved millions of lives. I see I am losing some of you now … I will have something to say about this later.

4. “Rampant fraud, waste and abuse” characterized much of the response to the pandemic.

5. School closures were pushed by those who were supposed to have protected our kids and will have long lasting adverse consequences.

6. The Constitution should never be discarded just because there is a crisis. (I’d say, it was designed especially for these times.)

7. The ‘prescription was worse than the disease’ in this case and this had predictable adverse consequences.

And that my friends is the gist of it. I will do my best to give some more detailed highlights that didn’t make it into the accompanying letter, as outlined above. Stay tuned for part II coming soon.

In health,

DocofLastResort