Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Health experts question Biden's new travel bans: 'Their role in public health is minimal'

Health experts question Biden's new travel bans: 'Their role in public health is minimal'

Biden previously insinuated Trump's travel ban on China was 'racist' and 'xenophobic'

President Biden's travel ban on eight African countries immediately following news of the omicron variant will have "minimal" impact on stemming its spread, some health experts say.

Biden's travel bans on South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi, went into effect on Monday after the first reported cases of the new variant were discovered in southern Africa.

"Their role in public health is minimal," Dr. Nicole Saphier told Fox News Digital.

Saphier said the stricter measures, such as PCR 48 hours before the flight and a rapid antigen test the day of the flight, will have a greater impact on the battle against omicron, but she predicted mostly unhelpful and even adverse consequences to accompany Biden's decision.

"Travel restrictions typically cause a mass exodus of people in a chaotic fashion which can further lead to viral transmission leading people to be creative finding ways to enter the country, often without any public health checkpoints," she said.

Saphier, a Fox News contributor, was one of several experts to suggest not interrupting international trade because omicron, she argued, is already in the U.S.

"Ultimately, omicron is already in the United States, " Saphier continued. "It is only a matter of time until our sequencing catches up to find it. No amount of boosting, masking or travel restrictions will get us to zero Covid. The best we can do is live our healthiest lives and do our part to lower transmission without disrupting internationals commerce and trade. In the long-term, the economic health of our nation may be more important than Covid case counts."

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said he thinks travel bans help slow the spread of the virus "a little" for "a week or two" and sends an important signal to other countries, but he too predicted that it will not be a huge asset in stemming the spread of the new strain. What's more, he said, South Africa was transparent about omicron and immediately alerted the world. With Biden's ban, Jha said the country now feels as though it's being "punished."

"We have to be very thoughtful about travel bans," Jha said. "They feel like an easy thing to do. They don't work all that well. They have a real cost to them."


Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel said a travel ban could be useful if it could "completely cut off all travel." He pointed to New Zealand, fox example, as an initial success but it ultimately failed because once the vaccine was introduced, the country didn't have enough of it.

"In an ideal situation, if you could completely block off an area and not lock anybody down … if you cut off travel and stop the intro of a pathogen, that's pretty helpful. But that's not like anything that we're talking about here," Siegel told Fox News Digital. "In this situation it looks like this virus has been around awhile. And it has spread to multiple countries, including ours."

The arrival lobby of the international terminal  is deserted at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Japan confirmed on Tuesday its first case of the new omicron coronavirus variant, a visitor who recently arrived from Namibia, an official said. Japan announced Monday it will suspend entry of all foreign visitors from around the world as a new coronavirus variant spreads.


"You have to have a really, really complete travel ban the way Israel is doing to have any impact," he continued. "What we're doing is making a hand-waving gesture. Our travel ban will not be comprehensive enough to have an impact."

"I think it's an example of too little, too late," he said.

Siegel said a travel ban also wouldn't work in the U.S. because of the administration's immigration policies that have resulted in "leaky borders."

A man walks through a deserted part of Johannesburg's OR Tambo's airport in South Africa on Monday. The World Health Organization urged countries around the world not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concern over the new omicron variant.


"They're not going to make a huge impact, Jake," CNN's Sanjay Gupta told Jake Tapper about the bans on Monday. "This is a risk/reward proposition. The benefit of doing this is you may slow down some of the entry of the virus into the country, but it's very porous as you're mentioning because a lot of people who are citizens will be coming back as well and could potentially be carrying the virus."

"But overall, I think it's hard to make the case that the travel ban will have much of an impact long term," he added. "It is quite likely over the next day or so we'll hear that this variant has been detected in the United States and that should surprise nobody. If you go back and look at last year, there were lessons, Jake. I believe the ban on European travel was March – middle of March some time of 2020, March 13, I believe. By March 18, significant clusters all over the country. So, you know, the virus is likely already here. Likely already spreading, we just haven't detected it yet."

Baylor College of Medicine professor Peter Hotez said on "Fox News Sunday" that he too is "not a big fan of travel bans" because the virus tends to spread so quickly in multiple countries.

Biden himself criticized the use of travel bans under former President Donald Trump. As a presidential candidate in 2020, his campaign posted an ad that insinuated his travel ban was "racist" and "xenophobic."

"We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus," Biden also tweeted as a candidate the day after Trump imposed travel restrictions from China in response to the coronavirus. "We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×