Covid-19 crisis Ineffective to ban international travel
President Trump banned international arrivals from Europe to reduce the spread of the corona virus. This created serious consequences for the global economy. It disrupted travel and trade.

This was a bad decision. It was based on the presumption that the Europeans have more people infected with the virus and they could cause the virus to spread in America. It presumes that the Americans were less infected.

Although the number of people infected in America appeared to be lower than in Europe, it could be due to the lack of large scale testing in America. 

It is likely that the infected persons in America could cause the virus to spread rapidly within the country. Banning travelers from Europe does not help.

The proper approach is to improve the testing for the virus and to adopt measures, such as social distancing, to stop the spread of the virus, whether from locals or foreigners.

The best approach seemed to be home quarantine of the infected person for 14 days. This also carries its risk of spreading the infection to the family members. Maybe, with precautions, this spread can be reduced.

We do what we can, and wait for the vaccine or a cure to be found. We should not adopt excessive measures that cause the economy to grind to a halt, as it has its other consequences. 

Tan Kin Lian
 

Add Comment

---