Americans from across the political spectrum are calling on President Donald Trump to immediately ban flights from the UK as a new variant of Covid-19 continues to spread.
Despite the fact that more than forty countries blocked flights from the UK in response to the reportedly rapidly spreading new coronavirus variant, the US was not one of them, with White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci advising against a travel ban.
Yet, there are growing calls from Americans – both Democrat and Republican -- to ban entry to passengers from the UK.
“If you don’t like lockdowns you should be SCREAMING for a UK travel ban ASAP,” tweeted Human Events co-publisher Will Chamberlain, while One America News Network host Jack Posobiec called for a travel ban on the UK “now” to “keep circulation of this new strain down and manageable.”
Malaysia-based conservative Ian Miles Cheong also argued in favor of the US banning flights from the UK, noting, “Canada has locked its borders to prevent flights frim [sic] the UK but Fauci doesn’t think it’s necessary so Trump hasn’t done it.”
Dilbert creator Scott Adams agreed with Cheong, calling the refusal to implement a travel ban “déjà vu.”
Democrats have also called for greater measures on flights from the UK, with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo successfully convincing at least three airlines to require negative Covid-19 tests from British passengers.
Democratic Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi commented that a report by the Committee on Oversight and Reform had found that Trump’s administration has “allowed the virus to flood into the US from Italy last spring. “We must prevent the same mistake from happening again,” Krishnamoorthi said. Meanwhile, Massachusetts Rep. Bill Keating called for the Trump administration to “temporarily institute a pre-boarding clear Covid-19 test requirement for passengers departing from the UK for the US.”
Daily Beast editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast tweeted, “Trump still won’t ban travel with the UK because he’s extremely busy doing... Twitter?”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson locked down entire sections of the UK – including London – just days before Christmas on Saturday after announcing that a new strain of the coronavirus has been spreading.
The new strain has continued to spread throughout the UK and beyond over the past few days, prompting countries all over the world to restrict travel.
On Tuesday, however, the European Commission advised its member states to stop “blanket travel bans” on the UK which “prevent thousands of EU and UK citizens from returning to their homes.”
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