The China Virus has wreaked economic havoc. It has infected tens of thousands of Americans, killing several hundred so far. This is an immense tragedy for all those affected, whether they have lost jobs, health (either temporarily or permanently), or loved ones.

Sadly, it didn’t have to happen. Despite massive disinformation efforts, evidence has emerged that the government of the People’s Republic of China engaged in a cover-up that lasted weeks, if not months. Even as this evidence mounts, the Chinese Communists have spewed the despicable lie that the Wuhan coronavirus is somehow a biological weapon developed by the United States Army.

Mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Times of London — all of which are grossly biased against President Donald Trump — have published reports about what the Chinese Communists knew, when they knew it, and how they tried to keep that knowledge from the world. The Financial Times has some even more damning reports about how Taiwan’s warnings to the World Health Organization were ignored.

Take a look at this January 14 post on Twitter from the WHO. Take a look at what life in America is like as of today, and what has been in the news. Reread what those mainstream outlets have reported about how the government of Communist China responded and how Taiwan’s warning was ignored.

China fed the world lies and propaganda for weeks to cover up the existence of the Wuhan coronavirus, and at the very least the WHO went along. It may be more than coincidence that China backed the election of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in 2017. Ghebreyesus has spent the last two months downplaying the threat, while providing cover and offering fawning praise for the ChiComs.

Moreover, that cover-up cost time — time that could have, at the very least, mitigated the effects of what became a pandemic. Imagine if it hadn’t been covered up. Imagine being worried about how your NCAA bracket is going to turn out instead of whether all the toilet paper has been bought up — or if you’ll receive a paycheck on Friday.

Because of the cover-up orchestrated by the People’s Republic of China and the WHO’s inexcusable failure to heed Taiwan’s warning, Americans have suffered a serious economic hit. Because of this cover-up, Americans have gotten sick. Because of this cover-up, Americans have died. For what? To avoid embarrassing Beijing’s dictator?

When companies perpetrate crap like this that doesn’t cost lives (see Enron), they face class-action lawsuits. Sometimes, executives even go to jail. We don’t exactly have those options when it comes to what was negligence at best and depraved malevolence at worst on the part of the People’s Republic of China. But we can do stuff on multiple fronts to hold the Butchers of Beijing accountable and ensure that this never happens again. The payment for the rebuilding of our economy can, in a way, come from the hide of the People’s Republic of China — primarily by us extricating ourselves from dependence on China for so many goods. That is not nearly sufficient when Beijing’s BS cost Americans their lives. But it will be a start.

(Updated.)