Much has been made of the news that Joe Biden has shut the door to eight countries over the new “omicron” COVID variant. AT deputy editor Andrea Widburg has an excellent piece today on that here.
Some of the implications are vaguely comical. Biden’s White House medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the so-called “expert” and voice of “science” he touted, was last seen recommending against the closure of air travel.
Joe did it anyway, signaling that Fauci’s expertise to him is all about what’s politically useful. Apparently, this wasn’t.
After all, country after country was shutting its air travel from countries where that variant is present. According to Axios:
Countries across Europe and Asia are rushing through new travel restrictions in response to a new COVID variant identified by scientists in South Africa.
The big picture: Israel, Japan, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Singapore are moving to restrict entry from countries in the south of Africa, AP reports. Many are also adding quarantines for their own citizens upon return from the region.
- The U.K. ban targets “South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe,” per the N.Y. Times.
- The European Commission on Friday recommended EU countries “activate the emergency break” on travel from countries in southern Africa and other nations affected by the new variant.
- “All air travel to these countries should be suspended … until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “Travelers returning from this region should respect strict quarantine rules.”
For Joe, it’s all about being part of the “in” crowd — never mind that his administration seems to be of multiple minds on the matter and that historically, pandemic variants tend to be weaker than whatever came before them.
Fauci’s calls not to shut the air traffic got left by the wayside.
Joe, meanwhile, left himself looking like a fool.
Via Instapundit’s Ed Driscoll, these Biden wokester tweets show what he was claiming earlier:
This is an instant replay of the argument between Dr Falsi and Dr Peter Navarro on February 29,2010at a staff meeting in the situation room in the White House. Dr Falsi argued that restricting flights from China was unnecessary. Of course he was instructed by the left to say that in order for the ccp virus to take a strong hold on our population in order to promote absentee balloting unlike anything we have ever seen in our country. It was the only hope that the left had of occupying the executive branch. Dr Navarro argued vehemently that travel restrictions were necessary and succeeded to convince President Trump to restrict travel. We will see more of this from the left the closer we get to mid term elections.