The Trump administration’s quarantine and travel ban in response to the Wuhan coronavirus could undercut international efforts to fight the outbreak by antagonizing Chinese leaders, as well as stigmatizing people of Asian descent, according to a growing chorus of public health experts and lawmakers.
The World Health Organization’s top official on Tuesday repeated concern that moves that interfere with transportation and trade could harm efforts to address the crisis, though he didn’t directly name the United States. Meanwhile, unions representing flight attendants, nurses and teachers criticized the administration on Tuesday for not being forthcoming about what kind of screening and treatment individuals will undergo, and some members of Congress say they’re concerned the efforts could stoke racial discrimination.
“This is a virus that happened to pop up in China. But the virus doesn’t discriminate between Asian versus non-Asian,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), a former emergency room physician who will preside over Congress’ first hearing on the outbreak on Wednesday. “In our response we can’t create prejudices and harbor anxieties toward one population.”
The administration on Sunday ordered recent U.S. travelers to China’s Hubei province — the epicenter of the outbreak — to be held in a mandatory quarantine for two weeks. The last time the government took such a step was in the late 1960s, when it held people on the U.S.-Mexico border who lacked evidence of smallpox vaccination. Currently, 195 Americans who were evacuated from the Wuhan area last week are quarantined on a military base in Ontario, Calif. — and the number is expected to grow as more people are flown out.
Source: Coronavirus quarantine, travel ban could backfire, experts fear
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