WASHINGTON—Today, The Heritage Foundation’s nonpartisan commission on China and COVID-19 unveiled a new report on China’s negligence and lack of transparency during the pandemic. This malfeasance led to enormous economic and human costs—including at least $18 trillion in economic costs to the United States and more than 1 million American deaths. The commission, chaired by the 6th U.S. Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, features nine highly esteemed individuals from the fields of medicine, law, intelligence, academia, and national security. The report primarily focuses on China’s coverup of the virus rather than the origin of the virus and provides legal and legislative solutions to hold them accountable. 

6th U.S. Director of National Intelligence, visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and Chairman of the Commission 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.

“While most of our government and media have focused on legitimate concerns about the origins of the virus, we must also focus on how the CCP’s lack of transparency and distortion of facts accelerated a global pandemic, regardless of how COVID-19 originated.

“I am honored to chair the Heritage Foundation’s nonpartisan commission and work alongside Democrats and Republicans. We look forward to exposing the truth and providing solutions in this report.”  

Below are some of the report’s major findings: 

• 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 for the COVID-19 pandemic, the commission proposes Congress to pass a single paragraph amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) granting U.S. federal courts jurisdiction over cases where injured American citizens are seeking monetary damages against a foreign state; when that state has through malfeasance negligence sparked a global pandemic leading to more a million excess deaths in the United States; 

• The commission also recommends establishing a bipartisan US national COVID-19 commission and China reparation task force, requiring a stringent national security review of all scientific collaborations with China, amending US export control laws, demanding a comprehensive and unfettered scientific and forensic investigation into COVID-19 origins in China, and other measures.   

The Commission added: 

“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.

“Our diverse background allows us to provide a report like no other. We are hopeful our findings and recommendations can lead to more actions to hold the Chinese government accountable.”  

BACKGROUND:  

The Heritage Foundation’s nonpartisan commission on China and COVID-19 operated between September 2023 and April 2024.  

Its commission members include:  

John Ratcliffe, 6th U.S. Director of National Intelligence and Chairman of the Commission.  

Robert C. O’Brien – Chairman of American Global Strategies and 27th United States National Security Advisor.  

Heidi Heitkamp – Director, University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, and former U.S. Senator from North Dakota.  

Matthew Pottinger – Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies China Program and 32nd United States Deputy National Security Advisor. 
 
Robert R. Redfield, M.D. – Virologist and 18th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 

Jamie Metzl – Founder and Chair, OneShared.World, former NSC and State Department official and member of WHO expert advisory committee on human genome editing.   

John Yoo, J.D. – Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California-Berkeley. 

Robert Kadlec, MD – Physician, and former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

David Feith, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.