Trump’s New COVID-19 Travel Ban Applies To 26 European Countries

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 21: A traveler places her carry on items into a tray as a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent helps her use the 3-D scanner at the Miami International Airport on May 21, 2019 in Mi... MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 21: A traveler places her carry on items into a tray as a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent helps her use the 3-D scanner at the Miami International Airport on May 21, 2019 in Miami, Florida. TSA has begun using the new 3-D computed tomography (CT) scanner in a checkpoint lane to detect explosives and other prohibited items that may be inside carry-on bags. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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The Department of Homeland Security offered a few paragraphs of detail Wednesday night after President Donald Trump announced the suspension of travel from Europe into America for 30 days, excluding travel from Britain.

Trump said the move was meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 from the continent, but he offered few details how his order would be carried out.

In a statement, DHS said the ban, which excludes the United Kingdom, would apply to the so-called “Schengen Area” of countries that allow free travel within Europe.

The order would exclude “legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation,” the statement said. The White House laid out the order in a presidential proclamation Wednesday night.

Read the full DHS statement below:

Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf’s Statement on Presidential Proclamation To Protect the Homeland from Travel-Related Coronavirus Spread

(WASHINGTON) Today President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation, which suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation.

Statement from DHS Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf:

“Protecting the American people from threats to their safety is the most important job of the President of the United States. The actions President Trump is taking to deny entry to foreign nationals who have been in affected areas will keep Americans safe and save American lives. I applaud the president for making this tough but necessary decision. While these new travel restrictions will be disruptive to some travelers, this decisive action is needed to protect the American public from further exposure to the potentially deadly coronavirus.

“In January and February, the Administration issued similar travel restrictions on individuals who had been in China and Iran. That action proved to be effective in slowing the spread of the virus to the U.S., while public health officials prepared. In the next 48 hours, in the interest of public health, I intend to issue a supplemental Notice of Arrivals Restriction requiring U.S. passengers that have been in the Schengen Area to travel through select airports where the U.S. Government has implemented enhanced screening procedures.”

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Notable Replies

  1. The virus is already here, dumbass.

    Let’s lock the door AFTER the 72" flatscreen is stolen and out the door.

  2. The horse isn’t out of the barn, it’s in the next county. Very stable * SNIFF* genius.

  3. Just resign.

    Take Pence with you.

    And let the grown-ups run things for a change.

    If it’s not too late.

  4. I’m not trying to be hyperbolic (Don, Jr., are you listening?), but does anyone out there think we are standing on the precipice of a cliff, about to fall?

    The reason for my concern is four of my employees are under quarantine for the virus for the next 14 days.

  5. Currently feeling like a Black Death fall is not in the cards, but something like a 1918-1919 fall may well be.

    The latter is mitigated in some respects by the fact that the latter disproportionately affected the young and healthy, while the deaths due to coronavirus are going to be disproportionately the old and unwell. So at least the labor force will mostly hold up and we won’t experience some sort of societal collapse.

    But the pervasive spread of just-in-time inventorying, from Amazon to Ford to my kitchen, has me extremely thankful for the latter. If the labor force got substantially knocked out for a few weeks, I would be getting very hungry.

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