Thank you, @Doc Robinson! I picked up some other interesing details in those replies. I still wonder why this has not been treated like the smoking cannon it appears to be.
John Day — Your suspicions about a bio-weapon seem well founded. For some reason, this particular incident (see link) has not gone viral. July 11, 2019, 2 dead (later 3), 18 hospitalized, 50+ ill, 50 miles from Ft. Detrick (an easy commute, or visit to family) which was closed by the CDC four weeks after this incident, citing “…two breaches earlier in the year”.
“Pneumonia” in summer, with patients suffering fever, cough, wheezing, and fatigue… CDC could not ID the pathogen (reported a week later in NBC coverage).
https://abcnews.go.com/US/respiratory-outbreak-investigated-retirement-community-54-residents-fall/story?id=64275865