Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on Friday dismissed allegations that the U.S. military spread the coronavirus in China, a claim pushed by a government official from the communist regime, as “completely absurd.”
“If the Chinese government had been more transparent early on — we are talking late fall, December at least — we would all, all of us, all the nations of the world would have been able to get our arms around this and contain in it in China where it began,” Mr. Esper told “Fox & Friends.”
He said countries need to be working together and sharing information on vaccines to solve the pandemic.
Mr. Esper said there have been more than 4,000 guardsmen deployed in 31 states to help combat the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.
He also said telemedicine at the Veterans Affairs hospital system is in the works.
“It’s something we are developing,” Mr. Esper said. “That is just an example of a technology we need to continue and accelerate so we can stay ahead of this crisis.”
