Whereas the first reported case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (commonly referred to as COVID–19 ) was reported as early as November 17, 2019; Whereas the first human-to-human transmission of the disease was recorded by doctors in Wuhan, China, on December 8, 2019; Whereas the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission did not inform the World Health Organization (WHO) of the outbreak until December 31, 2019; Whereas Chinese social media censors curbed alerts of the outbreak to the public, including by blocking a comprehensive list of coronavirus-related terms from online discussion; Whereas Dr. Li Wenliang, a physician at Wuhan Central hospital who warned his colleagues of the possible outbreak of COVID–19 in December 2019, was summoned and admonished by Wuhan police for making false comments on the Internet , and later died of the virus; Whereas, on January 3, 2020, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) ordered institutions not to publish any information related to the unknown disease and ordered labs to transfer any samples they had to designated testing institutions or to destroy them ; Whereas the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, was not notified by his Chinese colleagues of COVID–19 until January 3, 2020, 47 days after the first reported case of the virus; Whereas nearly six weeks after doctors in Wuhan raised the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the virus, Chinese officials continued to deny any recorded cases of such transmissions; Whereas Chinese authorities did not begin taking steps toward locking down the city of Wuhan until January 23, 2020, over two months after the first reported case of COVID–19; Whereas critics of China’s slow response to the outbreak, including Chinese businessman Ren Zhiqiang, were reported to have disappeared