# Wuhan Lab Director Ordered Staff to Hush Up on COVID-19, Per State Department Cable

By Human Events · Published 2021-07-12 · News & Analysis › World · https://humanevents.com/news/wuhan-lab-director-ordered-staff-to-hush-up-on-covid-19-per-state-department-cable

> In January of 2020, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology ordered staff to “not discuss COVID-19,” according to a blog post cited in a State Department cable obtained by U.S. Right to Know. Secrets secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone. The cable, which states the blogger’s post “has since been \[…\]

In January of 2020, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology ordered staff to “not discuss [COVID-19](https://humanevents.com/2021/07/06/michigan-teen-dies-in-his-sleep-days-after-getting-covid-19-vaccine/),” according to a blog post cited in a State Department cable obtained by U.S. Right to Know.

*Secrets secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone.*

The cable, which states the blogger’s post “has since been blocked on social media,” adds to reports that the Chinese government ordered silence on all information pertaining to COVID-19.

The cable was just one of several records released in response to a U.S. Right to Know Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

As reported by [U.S. Right to Know,](https://usrtk.org/biohazards-blog/wuhan-lab-ordered-not-to-discuss-covid-19/) other items in the records include the following.

A February 2020 cable reported that the U.S. Consulate’s South China Public Affairs Section “media contacts discussed the rumors circulating on social media that a graduate of the Wuhan Institute of Virology is patient zero of COVID-19, which has been denied by the institute.”

A March 2020 cable showed that the Chinese government has not yet conducted a Joint External Evaluation, which is a voluntary peer-review process administered by the WHO to help countries “determine their gaps and weaknesses in preparing for and responding to infectious disease risk.”

A March 2020 cable analyzed the Chinese government and affiliated media’s messaging on COVID-19.