--- title: "Whistleblower: US Gov May Have Helped Spread Coronavirus" description: "A whistleblower has come forward, claiming that the Trump administration helped spread the deadly COVID-19 outbreak inside US borders." date: "2020-02-28" modified: "2020-02-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/whistleblower-us-gov-may-have-helped-spread-coronavirus" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Pathogens" - "Viruses" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid-19" - "trump administration" - "virus" --- # Whistleblower: US Gov May Have Helped Spread Coronavirus ![A whistleblower has come forward, claiming that the Trump administration helped spread the deadly COVID-19 outbreak inside US borders.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* A whistleblower has come forward with some serious allegations, claiming that the US government may have inadvertently helped spread the deadly COVID-19 outbreak inside US borders by breaking protocol, according to an [exclusive report by *The Washington Post*]() and a [followup by *The New York Times*](). It's an accusation that will likely cause problems for the White House, which is [already struggling]() to find a consistent message about the ongoing outbreak. The whistleblower alleges that she was "unfairly and improperly reassigned" after ringing alarm bells that more than a dozen healthcare workers — from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) — were deployed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to quarantined areas in which COVID-19 patients coming from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, were being processed. According to the whistleblower, the HHS workers didn't receive adequate training and didn't bring appropriate protective gear, potentially putting them in danger of becoming infected and infecting others. The workers were in contact with evacuees in quarantined areas at Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base, according to the complaint. The whistleblower wrote that "appropriate steps were not taken to quarantine, monitor, or test \[the workers\] during their deployment and upon their return home," as quoted by the *Post*. One of the whistleblower's lawyers, Lauren Naylor, told the *Post* that the ACF workers "were allowed to leave quarantined areas and return to their communities, where they may have spread the coronavirus to others." According to the *Post*, several people within HHS voiced objections over sending the unprepared ACF workers. The workers were also never tested for COVID-19, since they didn't meet the criteria at the time. The whistleblower claimed that concerns over the ACF workers' health were dismissed by administration officials as detrimental to staff morale, and that concerned employees were "accused of not being team players," as quoted by the *Times*. Ominously, the whistleblower report comes shortly after the first "community transmission" of the deadly virus observed in the US was [confirmed]() by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention early this morning. In other words, this is the first infected person in the country who is not known to have traveled anywhere linked to an outbreak. That means they may have picked up the virus in the US instead of abroad. That connects to the whistleblower story — albeit circumstantially — because the patient is from Solano County, the same county as Travis Air Force Base. *CNN* did note however that the patient "has no connection to \[the base\]." To be clear, any ties between the whistleblower's report and this particular infection have not been confirmed. But commentators as prominent as *MSNBC* host Chris Hayes are suggesting that the connection may be more than a coincidence. https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1233149900428320769 HHS confirmed the existence of the report, but distanced itself from any wrongdoing. "We take all whistle-blower complaints very seriously and are providing the complainant all appropriate protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act," a spokeswoman told the *Times*. "We are evaluating the complaint and have nothing further to add at this time." During a Thursday briefing, representative Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) pressed HHS Secretary Alex Azar on the whistleblower reports. "To your knowledge, were any of the ACF employees exposed to high-risk evacuees from China?" Gomez asked, as quoted by the *Times*. Unless with the proper equipment and special suits, "they should never have been," Azar replied. "To maintain quarantine, that should be the case." Online, the report was met with outrage. https://twitter.com/ryanlcooper/status/1233157277038841857?s=20 ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()