Biden to block Trump's plan to lift COVID-19 European travel restrictions

By David Shepardson

 

FILE PHOTO: A man opens the door of a testing center, as tighter rules for international travellers start, at Heathrow Airport, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, London, Britain, January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to quickly extend travel restrictions barring travel by most people who have recently been in much of Europe and Brazil soon after President Donald Trump lifted those requirements effective Jan. 26, a spokeswoman for Biden said.

 

Trump signed an order Monday lifting the restrictions he imposed early last year in response to the pandemic - a decision first reported Monday by Reuters - after winning support from coronavirus task force members and public health officials.

 

Soon after Trump's order was made public, Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted "on the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26."

 

She added that "With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel."

 

Until Biden acts, Trump's order ends restrictions the same day that new COVID-19 test requirements take effect for all international visitors. Trump is due to leave office on Wednesday.

 

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to extend travel restrictions on most visitors who have recently been in much of Europe and Brazil, soon after President Donald Trump announced he would be lifting those requirements. Gloria Tso reports.

 

Last week, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed an order requiring nearly all air travelers to present a negative coronavirus test or proof of recovery from COVID-19 to enter the United States starting on Jan. 26.

 

The restrictions Trump rescinded have barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens who within the last 14 days have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the 26 countries of the Schengen area in Europe that allow travel across open borders.

 

The U.S. restrictions barring most visitors from Europe have been in place since mid-March when Trump signed proclamations imposing them, while the Brazilian entry ban was imposed in May.

 

Psaki added that "in fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19." The Biden transition did not immediately respond to a request to comment on if it planned to expand the countries covered.

 

Biden, once in office, has the legal authority to reimpose the restrictions.

 

Last Tuesday, Marty Cetron, director of CDC's global migration and quarantine division, told Reuters those entry bans were an "opening act strategy" to address the virus spread and should now be "actively reconsidered."

 

Airlines had hoped the new testing requirements would clear the way for the administration to lift the restrictions that reduced travel from some European countries by 95% or more.

 

They had pressed senior White House officials about the issue in recent days.

 

Many administration officials for months argued the restrictions no longer made sense given most countries were not subject to the entry bans. Others have argued the United States should not drop entry bans since many European countries still block most U.S. citizens.

 

Reuters previously reported the White House was not considering lifting entry bans on most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in China or Iran. Trump confirmed Monday he would not lift those.

 

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Howard Goller and Nick Zieminski)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-20

 

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Ya REALLY gotta ask yourself WHY this petulant little man-child aka 45 is putting every Leggo imaginable on the floor for the Biden team to step on. Does 45 think this will HELP his legacy?

2 minutes ago, J Town said:

Ya REALLY gotta ask yourself WHY this petulant little man-child aka 45 is putting every Leggo imaginable on the floor for the Biden team to step on. Does 45 think this will HELP his legacy?

It IS his legacy.  That type of behavior is his entire legacy of hurt and harm.

 

Just now, Credo said:

It IS his legacy.  That type of behavior is his entire legacy of hurt and harm.

This is SO gonna bite him in his burgeoning behind. This is too obviously mean-spirited. He's turning a lame duck into a rabid weasel.

Good!lets get things under control then we can reach out and help others just like we use to do before trump 

2 hours ago, J Town said:

This is SO gonna bite him in his burgeoning behind. This is too obviously mean-spirited. He's turning a lame duck into a rabid weasel.

This is SO gonna bite him in his burgeoning behind. This is too obviously mean-spirited. He's turning a lame duck into a rabid evil weasel.

 

I added the word evil. He's pure evil.

9 minutes ago, scorecard said:

This is SO gonna bite him in his burgeoning behind. This is too obviously mean-spirited. He's turning a lame duck into a rabid evil weasel.

 

I added the word evil. He's pure evil.

Copying is the highest form of flattery - nice add. ????

I actually think that Donald Trump really does not want to be able to have any consideration of being qualified to run for President again, hence he is just guaranteeing the process.   After another day he can just go onto being

another bad golfer.  I just hope his supporters will not be disappointed with reality when it eventually hits them.       I hope the next 4 years are better with the USA and all other countries.

Geezer

Just now, Stargrazer9889 said:

I actually think that Donald Trump really does not want to be able to have any

consideration of being qualified to run for President again, hence he is

just guaranteeing the process.   After another day he can just go onto being

another bad golfer.  I just hope his supporters will not be disappointed with

reality when it eventually hits them.       I hope the next 4 years are better

with the USA and all other countries.

Geezer

Supposedly, he'll be on his course at exactly the same time as Biden is being sworn in.  He played golf 308 times as president.  Even though promising he'd be too busy to do so.  Another lie his supporters don't care about.

 

https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2020/12/30/how-many-times-president-donald-trump-played-golf-in-office-103836/

4 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to quickly extend travel restrictions barring travel by most people who have recently been in much of Europe and Brazil soon after President Donald Trump lifted those requirements effective Jan. 26

Great move as one of the first, from a man that actually knows what the title being a president means. Not saying he will make all the right decisions, but I think we can all agree that he have more experience and qualifications for the job than Donald "The Duck" Trump.

1 minute ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

Great move as one of the first, from a man that actually knows what the title being a president means. Not saying he will make all the right decisions, but I think we can all agree that he have more experience and qualifications for the job than Donald "The Duck" Trump.

He's now Donald "The Lame Duck" and will most likely be the worst president for all time.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Biden to block Trump's plan to lift COVID-19 European travel restrictions

not much trumpism will survive biden's 100 first days in the office, it seems!

44 minutes ago, Pique Dard said:

not much trumpism will survive biden's 100 first days in the office, it seems!

Quite the contrary. True 45 rabid weasel followers will never accept truth. Even if Qanon were to start saying 45 was a traitor, they would merely say Qanon has been taken over by aliens and move on to other deeply disturbed conspiracy groups.

5 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

not much trumpism will survive biden's 100 first days in the office, it seems!

That would be good news!