A new report by the Heritage Foundation's Nonpartisan Commission on China and COVID-19 found that the COVID pandemic caused $18 trillion in economic losses to the U.S. and placed blame for the outbreak on the Chinese government.
FOX Business exclusively viewed an advance copy of the report, which estimated that as of December 2023, the pandemic's total economic cost in the U.S. topped $18 trillion after taking into account several ways in which the pandemic affected the economy.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a staggering toll on the United States, both in human lives and in economic terms. The total estimated cost of $18.007 trillion is a stark reminder of the profound impact this global health crisis has had on the nation," the commission wrote.
The report noted there were 1,476,457 excess deaths in the U.S. from 2020 to 2022 during the height of the pandemic.
In terms of lost economic output, real gross domestic product in that period was 2.5% below what was projected in early 2020 before the pandemic began.
Regarding the origins of COVID, the commission found that it "Very likely stemmed from a research-related incident in Wuhan, China." "Although it remains theoretically possible that COVID-19 emerged via zoonosis in the wild or spillover in a wet market, there is no evidentiary basis for either of these hypotheses despite extensive testing over four years," the commission wrote.
The COVID pandemic caused substantial disruptions to daily life and economy.
Commissioners provided recommendations for Congress to consider as it looks to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its role in the COVID pandemic, which include: Establish a bipartisan national COVID commission to conduct "a review of China's negligence and cover-up as well as an evaluation of domestic policies that were implemented" in response to the pandemic.
Facilitate the filing of civil claims against the People's Republic of China to allow civilians harmed by COVID to receive compensation by amending the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act with a provision letting civilians sue China for COVID claims.
Those include making it a diplomatic priority for China to allow an unfettered scientific and forensic investigation into COVID's origins, and imposing economic sanctions on Chinese officials and entities who were complicit in or supported the "Distortion and concealment" of information related to the COVID pandemic.
The report said that it's up to the U.S. government to take action on its recommendations and expressed hope that other governments will take inspiration from the commission's work, adding, "Better to take bold action now than to ask ourselves why we didn't do more if an even deadlier pandemic emerges in the future."
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