Republicans on House panel ask CDC to determine if COVID-19 was in U.S. earlier than reported
CBSN
Republicans on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate early possible COVID-19 cases and blood work in the U.S. to determine whether the virus was present in the country earlier than current estimates.
Specifically, committee Republicans sent a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky asking the CDC to use the most accurate tests available to test more blood samples from 2019 and investigate early unexplained deaths to determine if the virus was in the country earlier than December 13, 2019. The request is part of committee Republicans' investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The Chinese government hasn't been forthright with U.S. and international probes, and the GOP lawmakers reason that a better understanding of when cases first arrived in the U.S. will help investigators better determine an origin timeline in China. Committee Republicans are particularly interested in whether an accidental lab leak led to the COVID-19 outbreak that has caused the deaths of millions worldwide.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.