Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser July 9, 2020 By Joni Ashbrook
Last week the European Union began to reopen its borders to travelers since it has contained the coronavirus to a manageable level. It released a list of countries that can visit the 27 member nations.
The EU welcomed these 15 countries: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay. China was also on the list, if it agreed to reciprocity.
The United States was conspicuously absent from the list. The EU’s “travel ban” on Americans isn’t discriminatory like President Donald Trump’s ban which restricted immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
The EU’s ban is based on science. The EU has about 116 million more people than the U.S. but we have almost double the number of COVID-19 cases.
You’d be forgiven if the concept of policy being drafted from “science” seems a bit foreign to you.
The Trump administration has assaulted and bastardized science to the extent that we’re expected to believe absurd sharpie scribbles on a map as forecasting a hurricane’s path just to cover up for Trump’s incompetence.
This map shows the only countries to which holders of American passports can currently travel. (Courtesy of Medium.com)
Well, not the entire world since we’re on the “unsafe country list” with Russia and Brazil. These countries are ruled by autocrats, but they’re Trump’s chums.
Brazil’s coronavirus cases and deaths are second only to America’s. Brazil’s president has mirrored Trump’s inept pandemic response by downplaying the virus like calling it a “measly little cold,” and putting the economy above people’s lives.
We’re not only being shunned by our pals across the pond, our neighbors to the north have also called for their borders to remain closed to Americans.
A national survey by Destination Canada found that just 24% of people in Quebec welcome U.S. visitors, and only 6% in British Columbia want us there.
Canada confirmed its first coronavirus case a week after the U.S., yet it has been far more successful in containing the virus.
The EU and Canada both realize that they’ll suffer economically from banning American travelers, but they’re guided by science and putting their citizens’ health above all else. Imagine that!
Trump couldn’t accomplish this worldwide humiliation and humanitarian tragedy alone. Vice President Mike Pence leads the coronavirus task force but you wouldn’t know it by the way he ignores his own group’s recommendations.
Recently, in a Texas megachurch, Pence finally wore a mask, but it was while listening to a 100-person choir singing their hearts, or possibly other people’s lungs out. These types of gathering are proven superspreader events.
Republican leaders have a prominent place in America’s horrific pandemic failures. Like most GOP governors, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott followed Trump’s lead, ignoring health expert’s guidelines, and raced to reopen our economy in spite of dire warnings.
Abbott finally acknowledged the tsunami of cases about to hit Texas that could overwhelm our health care system and mandated wearing masks for most of Texas. Experts fear it’s too little too late.
And ironically, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that America’s top health expert, “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Yet Patrick’s still listening to Trump who suggested injecting disinfectant as a cure.
It’s doubtful the U.S. will get onto the EU’s list anytime soon since Trump and Pence are traipsing around the country holding superspreader events with their staffs leaving a trail of the virus behind.
It’s no wonder there are “walls” going up around the world to keep Americans out, and we’re no longer the country that the world strives to emulate.
