That’s not entirely accurate either. The travel ban was against China only. It was good he initiated the ban to slow the spread here. It was also racist at worst and political maneuvering toward the trade war with China he’s been engaging in at best.

Here’s why. At the time of the ban Italy was worse off than Wuhan. There were growing cases in England and other European countries. If you initiate a ban, it should be for all countries that have community spread to be most effective. Maybe that’s a little much, so you initiate a trigger ban based on percentage of population effected or rate of spread. That would be fair and equitable. He singled out China. He was advised it was insufficient to the stated purpose.

Also, at the time of the ban, we already had cases of community spread here in Washington, California, and I think New York too (I’d have to look that one up again but the dog is eyeballing me to take her out so I’ll leave that to you). He did nothing to stamp out community spread. Instead he actively hampered efforts by badgering governors and mayors of those areas, refusing to send aid promptly because they weren’t “nice to him” and refusing test kits that were already available from our neighbors overseas who were willing to send aid.

One can only conclude from these facts that the ban had less to do with the Pandemic than it did other reasons. Personally, I don’t think it was racist so much as a tangental salvo in the trade war. Nevertheless, it was inappropriate and damaging.