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US Medical Intelligence Tracked, Warned of New Virus

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - In late February, when President Donald Trump was urging
   Americans not to panic over the novel coronavirus, alarm bells were
   sounding at a little-known intelligence unit situated on a U.S. Army
   base near Washington.

   Intelligence, science and medical professionals at the National Center
   for Medical Intelligence were quietly doing what they have done for
   decades -- monitoring and tracking global health threats that could
   endanger U.S. troops abroad and Americans at home. The coronavirus is
   only the latest health threat tracked at the medical intelligence unit
   at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland.

   On February 25, the medical intelligence unit raised its warning that
   the coronavirus would become a pandemic within 30 days from WATCHCON 2
   _ a probable crisis _ to WATCHCON 1 _ an imminent one, according to a
   U.S. official. That was 15 days before the World Health Organization
   declared the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic.

   30,000 dead in U.S.

   At the time of the warning, few coronavirus infections had been
   reported in the United States. That same day, Trump, who was in New
   Delhi, India, tweeted: "he Coronavirus is very much under control in
   the USA." Soon, however, COVID-19 spread around the world, sickening
   more than 2 million people and killing more than 30,000 people in the
   United States.

   The center's work typically is shared with defense and health
   officials, including the secretary of health and human services. Its
   February 25 warning, first reported last month by Newsweek, was
   included in an intelligence briefing provided to the Joint Chiefs of
   Staff, but it's unknown whether Trump or other White House officials
   saw it.

   Various intelligence agencies had been including information about the
   coronavirus in briefing materials since early January, according to the
   official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not
   authorized to confirm details about the alert.

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