Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) is refusing to listen to the advice of the nation’s leading medical experts, continuing his opposition to travel bans in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration has implemented travel bans on China, Iran, and most of Europe to stop the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. Leading medical experts said this week that 30 states now have coronavirus cases due to international travel with Europe, from where 70 percent of the world’s new cases are now originating.
At least nine leading medical experts said this week that travel bans from highly affected countries are necessary to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Biden, though, has continued his opposition to any travel bans after telling the American public that they must “listen to the experts.”
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar said this week the travel bans “have given our country valuable time to prepare, and that is precisely what they were designed to do.”
“We knew most of the cases were coming from China and that’s why the President took an unprecedented step of making sure we restricted travel to those areas,” the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Michael Adams said in a statement.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress this week that without the travel bans, the U.S. would be “worse” off in terms of fighting the coronavirus and confirmed again that, specifically, a travel ban on Europe would stop outbreaks in the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Dr. Robert Redfield has repeatedly reiterated that travel from Europe is the “real threat” to the U.S. when it comes to containing the coronavirus.
Another five leading medical experts agree that travel bans are necessary to stop the spread inside the U.S. of the coronavirus:
CDC’s Dr. Stephen Redd: “Within weeks of identifying the outbreak … the restriction of travel from China reduced travel by 90%. I think that was a very helpful move to prevent more cases from China coming into the United States.” [Emphasis added]
Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx: “It’s clear that the early work of the president, both with travel restrictions and the ability to quarantine, has bought us the time and space to have this task force be very effective.” [Emphasis added]
Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center Dr. Marc Siegel: “I think [the President] made a very robust response to travel. I definitely agree with Dr. Fauci that [travel bans] decreased the number of cases that we’re seeing here in the United States right now.” [Emphasis added]
Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths Dr. Betsy McCaughey: “The President is doing exactly the right thing by attempting to keep this coronavirus from becoming endemic inside the United States.” [Emphasis added]
Medical Director for CityMD Dr. Janette Nesheiwat: “We still need to take precautions … we need to control the incoming cases from around the world, so we know that our President, starting tomorrow, is going to put a temporary ban on travel from Europe, and then we have to focus on containing it in the United States.” [Emphasis added]
Regardless, Biden has ignored the advice, denouncing travel bans as a measure that “will not stop” the coronavirus, which directly contradicts at least nine leading medical experts’ opinions.
A wall will not stop the coronavirus.
Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it.
This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) March 13, 2020
This week, Biden released his “combat coronavirus” plan, which does not include a single travel ban — not even for Wuhan, China, where the virus originated — and does not mention the terms “Wuhan” or “China” despite their connections to the issue.
If implemented, Biden’s plan would mean that flights directly from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan could continue as regularly scheduled into the interior of the U.S. and every major American city.
Biden’s coronavirus plan is similar to that of his 2020 Democrat opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in that both have effectively ruled out protecting American citizens by implementing travel bans. Sanders, this week, explicitly said that he would not close America’s borders even if it stopped the spread of the coronavirus.
There have been 2,110 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 48 deaths in the U.S.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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