UK Variant Gives Trump Chance to Do a Proper Travel Ban

[duenor]

A whole list of nations have banned travellers from UK. We should too - but this time, a real ban, not just on UK passport holders.

[five.five-six]

London has a muslim mayor. Therefore it would be a Muslim ban. Therefore unconditional.

[joepamjohn]

Wouldn’t it be racist?

[five.five-six]

Not just racist, anyone who would suggest such a thing is Islamaphobic.

[duenor]

The pundits who had tried the hackneyed "racist" line in response to the Chinese national ban were looking for a knee jerk reaction. Is it possible that xenophobic or racial undertones were present in the language of the ban? Sure. But that was irrelevant/speculative; the real problem with that ban was that it was substantially incomplete in that it based risk on the color of a traveller's passport. The virus doesn't care; we're all just meatbags to it.

It would seem that the prudent course of action would be to ban all incoming flights that even stopped briefly in the UK from landing, ASAP. We are already failing miserably at containing the current strain - if the reports of a strain with 70% greater transmissibility are correct, and on top of that unknown resistance to either of our two vaccines - action needs to take place right now.

Unfortunately, POTUS (judging by his twitter feed) seems no longer interested in the existing COVID19 crisis, or this potentially imminent one. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

[Eomer]

A whole list of nations have banned travellers from UK. We should too - but this time, a real ban, not just on UK passport holders.

Its likely already here. That variant started spreading in September, so its likely already seeded across the EU and I wouldn't be surprised to see in take hold in places like NY, Chicago, SF in the next weeks.

[SAN compnerd]

A whole list of nations have banned travellers from UK. We should too - but this time, a real ban, not just on UK passport holders.

Wonder why the UK government refuses to release the proof of this new strain.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

Its likely already here. That variant started spreading in September, so its likely already seeded across the EU and I wouldn't be surprised to see in take hold in places like NY, Chicago, SF in the next weeks.

A 'similar' mutation has already been discovered in South Africa according to The New York Times (Yahoo version link provided).

In South Africa, a similar version of the virus has emerged, shares one of the mutations seen in the British variant, according to scientists who detected it. That virus has been found in up to 90% of the samples whose genetic sequences have been analyzed in South Africa since mid-November.

The reality is that while some travel bans are and likely will prove appropriate, in today's world, you can't shut yourself off entirely from the rest of humanity. Just as problematic, as the virus has mutated in the U.K., it is likely mutating in the U.S. as well and probably already has.

This is the problem in dealing effectively with such viruses. As Boris Johnson is credited with saying in the article...

Isolation works on an individual and, to a degree, even on a local basis. Isolating an entire continent, particularly given the laws regarding travel/immigration, is a practical impossibility regardless of whether a given Administration sees it as a priority; even Harris/Biden are going to be 'limited' in that regard.

Yes. China did it with a city and was, somewhat, successful. Of course, they don't have laws or our Constitution and people were... uh... eliminated in myriad ways in the name of 'containment;' be it the virus or information. But, hey. It worked 'better' than our system... right? Maybe? Not so much?

I guess it depends on your point of view and what you believe as an individual. Unfortunately, Science is not supposed to deal in beliefs. Even more unfortunately, scientists absolutely deal in beliefs and when coupled with the beliefs and agenda of politicians... Well... Sometimes it ain't pretty.

[duenor]

Agreed with the opinion that it might be shutting the proverbial barn door after the horses have already left. However, that isn't observed yet at this time. It would seem prudent to shut the door to incoming flights regardless, because there is a non zero chance that this strain hasn't established itself here yet.

[joepamjohn]

Wonder why the UK government refuses to release the proof of this new strain.

They say it causes bad teeth.........Just look around at people in the UK, plenty of proof there.

[five.five-six]

The pundits who had tried the hackneyed "racist" line in response to the Chinese national ban were looking for a knee jerk reaction. Is it possible that xenophobic or racial undertones were present in the language of the ban? Sure. But that was irrelevant/speculative; the real problem with that ban was that it was substantially incomplete in that it based risk on the color of a traveller's passport. The virus doesn't care; we're all just meatbags to it.

It would seem that the prudent course of action would be to ban all incoming flights that even stopped briefly in the UK from landing, ASAP. We are already failing miserably at containing the current strain - if the reports of a strain with 70% greater transmissibility are correct, and on top of that unknown resistance to either of our two vaccines - action needs to take place right now.

Unfortunately, POTUS (judging by his twitter feed) seems no longer interested in the existing COVID19 crisis, or this potentially imminent one. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

just admit it, you are just looking for any reason, regardless how thin to ban Muslims from entering the country.

[ACfixer]

Is it possible that xenophobic or racial undertones were present in the language of the ban?

No. But that's the way they spun it. Then they spun it because he didn't do enough.

The virus should be renamed TDS-20.

[duenor]

just admit it, you are just looking for any reason, regardless how thin to ban Muslims from entering the country.

[five.five-six]

Pure bigotry and hate for Islam.

Complete disregard for the science and data.

[five.five-six]

What a difference an election makes, suddenly xenophobia is woke.