A ‘late’ ban imposed by the United States to travellers coming from Europe could have been fatal for the US Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19).
In January, just as a large share of countries, the United States as well, turned all eyes on China, when the Coronavirus started to be spread, introducing entry bans and travel restrictions, but at the same time, the virus also started to be spread in the European countries.
El gobierno de EE. UU. no impuso prohibiciones a los viajeros europeos hasta mediados de marzo, y puede haber contribuido a la rápida propagación de la pandemia, informa VisaGuide.World .
Aunque los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de EE. UU. no culparon a la Casa Blanca por la propagación acelerada del virus en los Estados Unidos, el informe del 1 de mayo de la Agencia Federal mostró detalles sobre el tema.
“Si bien gran parte del enfoque del coronavirus hace meses estaba en los viajeros de China, donde comenzaron las infecciones, los viajeros de Europa, incluida Italia, caminaban libremente por los aeropuertos del área de Nueva York sin controles” , señaló el gobernador de Nueva York, Andrew Cuomo, con respecto al informe de los CDC. .
Se estima que unos 860.000 llegaron de Europa a EE.UU. durante el mes de marzo. El presidente Donald Trump no respondió públicamente al último informe de los CDC sobre Europa.
Los primeros casos confirmados de coronavirus en los EE. UU. de viajeros provenientes de China se documentaron en enero y febrero, mientras que a fines de febrero los EE. UU. comenzaron a ver nuevos casos de infección de personas que no tuvieron contacto con la importación relacionada con Hubei.
Mientras Estados Unidos prohibió la entrada de personas provenientes de China a principios de febrero, el presidente Trump prohibió la entrada de países europeos a mediados de marzo.
“Certain interventions that were critical in the early stages, such as quarantine and airport screening, might have less impact when the transmission is widespread in the community. However, many elements of the mitigation strategies used during the acceleration phase will still be needed in later stages of the outbreak,” the report reads.
Below you can find a timeline of travel and event-related US COVID-19 spread
- January 17: The CDC and US Customs and Border Protection began passenger screening at select US airports.
- January 23: China locked down Wuhan and all of Hubei province, banning travel.
- February 2: The US implemented a travel ban on non-US. travellers from China. In February 1.74 million airline passengers arrived at the US from the European Union, excluding the UK and Ireland.
- February 11-March 5: Some 101 passengers returned to 18 US states from nine Nile River cruises (including on the MS Asara), “nearly doubling the total number of known COVID-19 cases in the United States at that time,” the CDC stated.
- From early February to mid-March international (China and Europe) and interstate travelled to multiple introductions of Coronavirus in northern California.
- Around one million people attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans in late February, and 175 people attended a Biogen conference in Boston, with both greatly ratcheting up US infections.
- Travellers from Europe and other regions from the United States are tied to the outbreak in the New York City area.
- Mid-March: It was five weeks from the partial US ban on travellers from China until President Trump banned non-US. travellers from Europe (March 13) and the UK and Ireland (March 16).
- In March, flyers to the US from Italy decreased by 74 per cent to 35,877, and from the Schengen countries dropped 50 per cent to 862,432.