The Heritage Foundation’s nonpartisan commission on China and COVID-19 unveiled a new report addressing China's negligence and lack of transparency during the pandemic. The commission, chaired by John Ratcliffe, the 6th U.S. Director of National Intelligence, attributes at least $18 trillion in economic costs to the United States and more than 1 million American deaths to this malfeasance.
John Ratcliffe stated, “The Chinese government must be held accountable for its role in obfuscating the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic—a pandemic that caused more than 1 million American deaths and $18 trillion in economic damage in the United States."
Ratcliffe emphasized that while there has been significant focus on the origins of the virus, it is equally crucial to address how "the CCP’s lack of transparency and distortion of facts accelerated a global pandemic."
Among the major findings highlighted in the report are:
- The total economic damages to the United States from COVID-19 are slightly over $18 trillion.
- COVID-19 resulted in over 38 million excess deaths globally and over one million in the United States alone.
- The Chinese government is primarily responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
To hold China accountable, the commission proposes an amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) granting U.S. federal courts jurisdiction over cases where injured American citizens seek monetary damages against a foreign state responsible for causing a global pandemic through negligence.
Additional recommendations include establishing a bipartisan US national COVID-19 commission and China reparation task force, conducting stringent national security reviews of all scientific collaborations with China, amending US export control laws, demanding comprehensive investigations into COVID-19 origins in China, among other measures.
The Commission collectively noted: “This groundbreaking report reveals the Chinese government’s nefarious motives to undermine the United States. The CCP’s coverup of the COVID-19 virus led to millions of unnecessary deaths and insurmountable economic costs."
Operating between September 2023 and April 2024, members of this nonpartisan commission include:
John Ratcliffe – Chairman
Robert C. O’Brien – Chairman of American Global Strategies
Heidi Heitkamp – Director at University of Chicago's Institute of Politics
Matthew Pottinger – Chairman at Foundation for Defense of Democracies China Program
Robert R. Redfield – Former Director at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jamie Metzl – Founder and Chair at OneShared.World
John Yoo – Professor at University of California-Berkeley
Robert Kadlec – Former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services
David Feith – Adjunct Senior Fellow at Center for a New American Security
