First rule of war: don’t interrupt the enemy when they are making their own grave. Unfortunately, there are always tangential casualties.

If they knew about it, they could work to make treatments against it. Hence the push for invermectin and HCQ by President Trump in the early days.

There is a Q post I’ve linked here before—can’t remember the number at the moment—about how Trump was trapped in the election year by the NIH/NIAID/WHO in that he couldn’t say anything that went against their recommendations without getting massacred by the press. If we are talking game theory, he didn’t have a move he could do without spoiling the best ending for all.