Posted on 10/16/2014 7:56:07 PM PDT by Mariner
he political momentum for a travel ban on West African nations continued to swell Thursday, but health and transportation experts were uniform in saying it wouldn’t stem the spread of Ebola — and could do more harm than good.
That hasn’t stopped politicians and pundits — ranging from House Speaker John Boehner to former Obama press secretary Jay Carney — from calling for a travel ban. The appeal is obvious: It sounds like a no-brainer to build an infectious-disease moat around the U.S., blocking some flights and barring people who come from the countries suffering the worst Ebola outbreaks.
But the reality, the experts say, is that those kinds of measures have failed before. And this time, experts inside and outside the administration warned, throttling travel would hammer already devastated West African countries, make it difficult to send relief where it’s needed, and send an unknown number of infected travelers into the shadows, increasing the difficulty of knowing how many were entering the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Make Reid go on record blocking it. Start sending Liberians to Searchlight.
It is sad that if isolated these African countries suffer disproportionately but if it saves the spread to the world so be it.
Call and email your Congress people to enact a travel ban.
This is right out of the White Hut press room...The real point of their argument is that since the administration is not adult enough to deal with this situation, then it would be pointless to do the adult thing and close travel FROM West Africa...
and wash your hands first...
It is time for, ‘New’, experts...
Aahhhhhhh......The old “Experts say” routine. Brings back memories of the 3 channel universe. Jane Pauley and Tom Nrokaw hosting the today show, and guest expert Chrissy Matthews of the San Francisco Examiner here to tell us why anything associated with Ronald Reagan is either wrong, stupid,or evil.
No need for a counter point of view, Mr Matthews is an “expert”
How about this...Shoot a few of those illegals coming across the non-existent southern border, that should cut the inflow a bit...
Hollywood is obviously missing a couple of fluffers...
You did disinfect before coming here?
It’s why guys like seeing women with a flat tire...
The article quotes a Republican congressman who raises the possibility of doing that very thing - blocking travel visas. To which Frieden lamely replies that the CDC doesn’t issue visas and he therefore can’t comment. The ladies who wrote the article seem satisfied with this but it sure would be nice if someone in the administration could respond to the sensible idea of simply not issuing visas.
The other argument - that a travel ban would keep aid workers and NGOs from being able to get in and out of the affected countries - apparently boils down to cost. It would force the aid organizations into chartered flights which are expensive. They quote some scary numbers for total cost of a chartered flight but they don’t take the final step of dividing by the number of passengers. When you do that you see that the cost is about ten times more per passenger than a normal commercial flight. That’s more expensive but not crazy more expensive. Surely we could find a way to cover that cost in the interest of saving American lives. We’re probably talking what, a few tens of $millions? That’s not even real money nowadays. Funny how liberals are breaking out the green eyeshades and worrying about cost all the sudden.
“..throttling travel would hammer already devastated West African countries, make it difficult to send relief where it’s needed, and send an unknown number of infected travelers into the shadows, increasing the difficulty of knowing how many were entering the U.S.”
First, if flights are banned from infected areas, and this is carefully monitored, how do ‘infected travelers’ go ‘into the shadows’ to get here? What does that even mean? Second, no one said not to send relief and help to the affected countries, and a flight ban ‘from’ there doesn’t mean we can’t send things ‘to’ there (the turn around flights don’t have to have domestic passengers from those countries). Third, the more money we have to spend here trying to prevent the spread of Ebola in our own country, the less money there is available to help stop the spread in Africa, and to help develop a vaccine etc.
But I can't remember where and when...
Politico might as well set up shop at the DNC HQ.
The lie is that health and transportation experts aren’t uniform on this. Quarantine is a proven winner throughout history. Why wouldn’t it work now?
This line of thinking is the biggest pantload of BS ever.
Banning soft drinks over 16 ounces to save lives...works like a charm.
What astounding stupidity!
My mistake: Obola law.
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