Public health officials are using White House talking points in trying to calm fears over a potential Ebola outbreak in the United States, says Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Like many of his fellow Republicans and a growing number of Democrats, Cruz wants a travel ban imposed on people leaving three West African countries currently dealing with Ebola outbreaks.
“The Obama White House is digging in not listening to the voices of common sense coming from both sides of the aisle,” Cruz said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, argues that a travel ban would only hurt the effort because the United States would lose track of who is flying into the United States. And people might even try to sneak across U.S. border with Mexico to get in, he testified before a congressional committee last week.
Cruz told CNN that excuse doesn’t make any sense. Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who had the first case of Ebola diagnosed inside the United States, evaded those screening techniques when he lied on a questionnaire, Cruz said.
Cruz also said that a travel ban would not prevent aid workers from flying into affected countries to help.
Cruz also said he is unimpressed with President Barack Obama’s choice of an “Ebola czar,” political operative Ron Klain
“We should be less concerned about giving the public the feeling that the government is on top of this and more concerned about the government actually being on top of it,” Cruz said.
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Scary times.
A ban would not necessarily prevent aid workers from flying into affected countries to help. If people want to travel to affected countries to help, they’re taking a risk, and it’s their choice. But it would certainly prevent them from coming back, which is beneficial to the U.S.
“Cruz also said that a travel ban would not prevent aid workers from flying into affected countries to help.”
It would prevent them from returning home. The last thing we want to do is to discourage the people who are risking their lives to stop this epidemic. And because there are no direct flights to/from the three countries affected, every person on every flight from every country would need to be screened. The truth is that there is a better case for banning travel from Texas, which has had the only US ebola cases so far.
#3 said The last thing we want to do is to discourage the people who are risking their lives to stop this epidemic.
Call me selfish, but the last thing I want to do is catch Ebola myself… Worry about the next guy later.
Anyway, they can offer volunteers re-entry as long as there is a full medical checkup. That’ll be much easier to manage than planes full of tourists.