Six months on from when the U.S. initiated travel bans from mainland China and Europe, hindsight shows that these bans may have simply seeded Covid-19 in the U.S.
Now the travel industry is calling for a universal system of negative tests before departing on international travels, to revive the beleaguered sector.
Travel bans can be ineffective
President Trump’s stated during the first presidential debate that the Chinese ban had “saved thousands of lives” but The Washington Post believed Trump’s claims to be “incorrect”.
It’s a view supported by Bill Gates, who told Fox News that he thinks the travel bans imposed by the U.S. only made things worse. Gates claimed that by initiating a ban against China in February 2020, thousands of people rushed in and, without inadequate testing at that point, “it seeded the disease” in the U.S.
In the same interview, Dr. Paul Sax, director of Infectious Diseases Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, supported Gates point with the example of the same thing happening when the U.S. imposed a ban on European countries–many Americans returned home to the U.S. quickly, bringing Covid-19 with them. Sax added that the country wasn’t equipped to screen people as they returned, either by symptoms or by testing.
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Snopes.com also claimed that whilst enhanced screening was given to passengers off flights from mainland China after the ban was put in place, thousands of Chinese and foreign nationals were permitted to enter the U.S. from Hong Kong and Macau–regions where Covid-19 cases had begun to be detected.
The World Health Organization warned that travel bans contribute to “a false impression of control” (quoted by The Washington Post) because they provide a misperception that a ban stops the spread of disease.
Travel bans worked better in countries which used them in conjunction with other aggressive health strategies, such as testing and contact tracing.
Negative tests before international departures is an answer
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents over 300 airlines and is demanding testing for Covid-19 before all international departures. Les Echos reported that it is technically feasible and would allow countries to reopen international borders.
IATA director, Alexandre de Juniac, called “for the establishment of a systematic test for all international passengers before departure.” He added, “this should allow governments to reopen the borders without quarantine.”
IATA said in a statement that they were aware of the considerable logistical and organizational challenges involved, but Juniac stated that new express tests developed by pharmaceutical companies were “not only 97% reliable, but can be performed within 10 to 15 minutes, for a price of $7 to $10.”
In the U.K., The Telegraph has been championing airport testing and announced that a decision would be made by the government in a matter of days. It would end the current shambolic system of quarantine where countries come off the “safe” list one week, only to be put back on it the following week, leaving the U.K. travel industry in disarray.
