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The WHO January: > International traffic: no restrictions recommended. Wuhan city is a major domestic and international transport hub. Currently, there are no

The WHO January: > International traffic: no restrictions recommended. Wuhan city is a major domestic and international transport hub. Currently, there are no reports of cases outside of Wuhan City. Given the heavy population movements, expected to significantly increase during the Chinese New Year in the last week of January, the risk of cases being reported form elsewhere is increased. WHO does not recommend any specific health measures for travellers. It is generally considered that entry screening offers little benefit, while requiring considerable resources. In case of symptoms suggestive to respiratory illness before, during or after travel, the travellers are encouraged to seek medical attention and share travel history with their health care provider. WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the information currently available on this event. It’s a good thing Trump didn’t listen to them and limited immigration by end of January. They made many more reckless recommendations like this well after they knew people were dying, it was spreading rapidly, and it was a coronavirus.

ceejayoz 6y ago
The travel "ban" was political theater, targeting only foreign nationals; red meat to add on to the existing trade wars. It had already escaped China at the time. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/01/debate-early-travel-bans-china/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/01/debate-ear... > The measure that the Trump administration implemented could not be described as a “ban” that “closed the country”: It only prohibited U.S. entry to foreign nationals who had visited China in the last 14 days. Americans and U.S. permanent residents returning from Hubei Province were still allowed, subject to a 14-day quarantine. After these policies were enacted, hundreds of thousands of travelers continued to arrive in the United States via direct flights from China. Until Feb. 27, no other travelers to the United States faced such travel restrictions and quarantine requirements — even if they were arriving from other nations that were reporting coronavirus cases. > Restricting flights from China did nothing to prevent the virus from arriving from other parts of the world. Genetic analyses have shown that the large epidemic that unfolded in New York was linked to travelers from Europe. In the early days of the U.S. epidemic, testing was restricted to people with a travel history to China, which limited the ability to detect locally the cases and infections among travelers from other countries. > By the time Trump expanded travel restrictions to Iran on Feb. 28 and to European nations on March 12, it was largely too late. By mid-March, the United States was approaching 2,000 confirmed cases and experiencing severe shortages in testing capacity that meant many infections likely went undiagnosed. The travel restriction did not initially apply to the United Kingdom, which already had hundreds of reported cases. And, implementation caused chaos. Photos showing large crowds of Americans stranded together in long lines and tight corridors for hours at airports may have increased virus transmission among those travelers who eventually made their way back to the United States. https://apnews.com/article/0dc271ad7f7917374a5a0cfb49273783 https://apnews.com/article/0dc271ad7f7917374a5a0cfb49273783 > A recent study from the journal Science found China’s internal crackdown modestly delayed the spread of the virus. It cast doubt that travel restrictions elsewhere will do much compared with other preventive measures, citing in part the likelihood that a large number of people exposed to the virus had already been traveling internationally without being detected.
- nwienert 6y ago
  And yet he was ahead of almost everyone in doing that - no other politicians or agencies were calling for it, most were denouncing it. I personally know someone coming here from China who was disallowed end of January. That he didn’t go all the way and ban US nationals is only because that would have probably been untenable politically and legally. Travel restrictions absolutely prevent spread to argue against that shows fundamentally you’re willing to make silly arguments to win, I won’t engage further.
  - ceejayoz 6y ago
    Yes, he was ahead of everyone in proposing the thing that didn't work, while to this day casting doubt on things like masking. Saying "The WHO did things similarly shockingly bad three times or so during the pandemic" and then pivoting to praise Trump on his COVID handling is pretty hilarious.
    - nwienert 6y ago
      It did work, absolutely. Editing here as I can’t reply. I’m not debating on failure vs success in the US in this thread, you seem to be caught up in that. I’m simply completely refuting that the WHO was even close to doing well. Here’s a decent summary of multiple mistakes and pandering to China: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-health-soft-power/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-h... The WHO themselves even said they made a “huge mistake”. So I guess you’re out there on your own in defending them. But more than that, anyone paying attention saw they were in China’s pocket. You’re grossly misinformed.
      - ceejayoz 6y ago
        As evidenced by our status as the world's largest and most sustained COVID-19 hot spot? What's your definition of failing?
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]

ceejayoz 6y ago

The travel "ban" was political theater, targeting only foreign nationals; red meat to add on to the existing trade wars. It had already escaped China at the time. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/01/debate-early-travel-bans-china/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/01/debate-ear... > The measure that the Trump administration implemented could not be described as a “ban” that “closed the country”: It only prohibited U.S. entry to foreign nationals who had visited China in the last 14 days. Americans and U.S. permanent residents returning from Hubei Province were still allowed, subject to a 14-day quarantine. After these policies were enacted, hundreds of thousands of travelers continued to arrive in the United States via direct flights from China. Until Feb. 27, no other travelers to the United States faced such travel restrictions and quarantine requirements — even if they were arriving from other nations that were reporting coronavirus cases. > Restricting flights from China did nothing to prevent the virus from arriving from other parts of the world. Genetic analyses have shown that the large epidemic that unfolded in New York was linked to travelers from Europe. In the early days of the U.S. epidemic, testing was restricted to people with a travel history to China, which limited the ability to detect locally the cases and infections among travelers from other countries. > By the time Trump expanded travel restrictions to Iran on Feb. 28 and to European nations on March 12, it was largely too late. By mid-March, the United States was approaching 2,000 confirmed cases and experiencing severe shortages in testing capacity that meant many infections likely went undiagnosed. The travel restriction did not initially apply to the United Kingdom, which already had hundreds of reported cases. And, implementation caused chaos. Photos showing large crowds of Americans stranded together in long lines and tight corridors for hours at airports may have increased virus transmission among those travelers who eventually made their way back to the United States. https://apnews.com/article/0dc271ad7f7917374a5a0cfb49273783 https://apnews.com/article/0dc271ad7f7917374a5a0cfb49273783 > A recent study from the journal Science found China’s internal crackdown modestly delayed the spread of the virus. It cast doubt that travel restrictions elsewhere will do much compared with other preventive measures, citing in part the likelihood that a large number of people exposed to the virus had already been traveling internationally without being detected.

nwienert 6y ago
And yet he was ahead of almost everyone in doing that - no other politicians or agencies were calling for it, most were denouncing it. I personally know someone coming here from China who was disallowed end of January. That he didn’t go all the way and ban US nationals is only because that would have probably been untenable politically and legally. Travel restrictions absolutely prevent spread to argue against that shows fundamentally you’re willing to make silly arguments to win, I won’t engage further.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  Yes, he was ahead of everyone in proposing the thing that didn't work, while to this day casting doubt on things like masking. Saying "The WHO did things similarly shockingly bad three times or so during the pandemic" and then pivoting to praise Trump on his COVID handling is pretty hilarious.
  - nwienert 6y ago
    It did work, absolutely. Editing here as I can’t reply. I’m not debating on failure vs success in the US in this thread, you seem to be caught up in that. I’m simply completely refuting that the WHO was even close to doing well. Here’s a decent summary of multiple mistakes and pandering to China: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-health-soft-power/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-h... The WHO themselves even said they made a “huge mistake”. So I guess you’re out there on your own in defending them. But more than that, anyone paying attention saw they were in China’s pocket. You’re grossly misinformed.
    - ceejayoz 6y ago
      As evidenced by our status as the world's largest and most sustained COVID-19 hot spot? What's your definition of failing?
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]