Omicron; what goes around comes around- in more ways than one.
What was the United States’ reaction to the news of Omicron? What is a travel ban?
As soon as the US government found out about Omicron, the President took several wise steps. We’re going to talk about one of his stupid decision- an all too familiar, and idiotic, travel ban. It might seem to make sense to prevent people from coming from or going to Southern Africa. That’s where Omicron is having the biggest initial impact. The reality of a selective, partially randomly-timed travel ban is very bad.
Why Biden’s travel ban stupid and immoral?
- It’s a selective ban. It only stops people from specific countries from entering the country. Biden’s ban only includes 8 countries and only Africans. There are 195 countries on earth. And Omicron has already been identified in half of them. Obviously, people with Omicron are going to enter the United States from the other 187 countries. The only way a ban can work is if everyone, from all countries, is stopped from coming.
- It’s partial: Certain people, like Americans, businessmen, or certain relatives, etc. are not affected by the ban. Specifically, this one only excludes Africans. Americans who have been visiting or even living in Southern Africa can come in. That means that plenty of people from those country will be bringing the virus anyway.
- There was a built-in delay before the ban was initiated. And there is no expiration date. When you announce that a travel restriction is going to happen, expect a rush to get into the country. When a temporary ban has no end-date, nobody can plan. That uncertainty causes economic, public health and administrative chaos.
- The virus is already here and spreading exponentially. Omicron is highly contagious. The vaccines don’t work at preventing infection. The number of infected people is growing exponentially. Even if a few people from Southern Africa brought it here, it would be only a ‘drop in the ocean’.
- It ruins the economy of the affected countries. This ban will crater the economies of already very very and/or struggling countries. Economic disaster creates political and healthcare disaster. And hurts everyone, including us.
- It discourages countries from cooperating with us, and reporting new variants. Developing countries learned that they shouldn’t tell anybody until everybody knows. Because they will get wrecked by being shut out. That means that there will be no early warning.
- It creates the conditions for new variants to emerge. Omicron will run wild in their country as economic disaster destroys health systems. The more that a variant spreads unchecked in a country, the more likely it is for a new variant to develop.
- America loses moral authority and trust. When we don’t do much to help poor countries vaccinate, and we shut them off when a new variant starts spreading, we can no longer claim to be the leader of the Free World and a country that represents justice.
What kind of travel ban could work, and can we do it?
For a travel ban” to work from a public health- pandemic perspective, it has to be airtight, short, and immediate. It must be followed by testing every single person who intends to come here, and right before they get on their flight. The results must be trustworthy. Additionally, everyone who comes into the country must be quarantined until we know that they don’t have a falsely negative test.
Time is of the essence. But after that critical few weeks, it’s too late. Now we must adapt. But we don’t get that time if a country is hobbled by what amount to sanctions when we block travel. In the US, Omicron is already everywhere. It comes from all over the world.
What’s the long term solution to new variants and the COVID-19 pandemic?
The answer to this question is easy. Vaccinate everybody everywhere. It’s a global imperative. It would be the cheapest investment our country could ever make. After all, the pandemic cost the US $16 trillion in 2021. That’s enough money to vaccinate every person in the whole world many times over, and still save a lot of money (not to mention American lives).
In the next article, we’ll talk specifically about the financial cost of not getting vaccinated.
REFERENCES:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-12-07/travel-bans-omicron-south-africa
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/from-other-countries.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/omicron-variant-covid-in-europe-netherlands-before-alert-raised/
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/epidemiological-update-omicron-data-8-decemberhttps://www.npr.org/2021/12/08/1062478218/omicron-has-been-found-in-wastewater-in-california-and-texas
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/01/09/what-is-the-economic-cost-of-covid-19
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/11/what-might-covid-cost-the-u-s-experts-eye-16-trillion/