Travel bans are not effective at improving Ebola situation
A travel ban on the countries with rampant increase of Ebola could also hinder aid to countries battling with Ebola.
Ebola has stormed the nation with its presence causing many people to panic in hysteria. Politicians are scrambling around not knowing what to do.
President Barack Obama and his administration are talking about implementing a travel restriction on the countries with rampant increase of Ebola, making it so that those coming from West Africa must go through one of the five US airports that have Ebola protocols. This restriction would not prevent Ebola from spreading.
There is always the possibility of the airport screenings of missing someone, which would cause more mayhem.
A travel ban could only makes the situation worse for the US, according to Thomas Frieden, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, it is possible to monitor who is coming in. But with a ban, people who have come in contact with the disease may try to avoid the US airport screenings by traveling to the country in other ways.
This would cause Ebola to come in undetected.
Many politicians, mostly Republicans, are calling for more to be done; they don’t understand that borders are only temporary, and people will be able to find a way around a restriction.
Obama’s intention is good.
He aims to monitor and control the flow of those coming in from West African countries.
But if Obama takes a travel ban any further than talk, Americans currently in Ebola-infected African countries would be unable to come back home.
This would affect a lot of people in the United States, but if one thinks close to home, it could have a major impact on campuses.
Even St. Edward’s, a relatively small school, has several studetns from Africa.
A travel ban could also hinder aid to countries battling with Ebola.
A ban would decrease the number of aid workers willing to go help these countries. They would not know if they would have to wait in quarantine when they came back home.
The international community should not try to isolate these countries.
A problem in one country often affects another, no matter how far away the two are.
