14,000 traveled into US while trump, mnuchin, kudlow debated on bans

[Laura PourMeADrink]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-nsc/as-trump-administration-debated-travel-restrictions-thousands-streamed-in-from-china-idUSKBN21N0EJ

Worth repeating....

But Reuters has found that the administration took a month from the time it learned of the outbreak in late December to impose the initial travel restrictions amid furious infighting.

During that time, the National Security Council staff, the state department and other federal agencies argued about everything from how best to screen for sick travelers to the economic impact of any restrictions, according to two government officials familiar with the deliberations.

The NSC staff ultimately proposed aggressive travel restrictions to high-level administration officials - but it took at least a week more for the president to adopt them, one of the government officials said.

In meetings, Matthew Pottinger, deputy national security adviser and a China expert, met opposition from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow, said two former NSC officials and one of the government officials involved in the deliberations. The two top aides were concerned about economic fallout from barring travelers from China, the sources said.

Each day that the administration debated the travel measures, roughly 14,000 travelers arrived in the United States from China, according to figures cited by the Trump administration. Among them was a traveler who came from Wuhan to Seattle in mid-January, who turned out to be the first confirmed case in the United States.

On Jan. 22, Trump downplayed the threat posed by the virus, telling CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “We have it totally under control.”

More at link

[mcar]

1. Sheer incompetence

[underpants]

2. The ban didn't stop Americans from going to China

Probably to return

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. Yes. And supply ships and foreign workers Funny trump always brags

About the wonderful relationship he has with China

[Celerity]

3. 430,000 People Have Traveled From China to U.S. Since Coronavirus Surfaced, 40,000 post-ban

There were 1,300 direct flights to 17 cities before President Trump’s travel restrictions. Since then, nearly 40,000 Americans and other authorized travelers have made the trip, some this past week and many with spotty screening.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/us/coronavirus-china-travel-restrictions.html

Since Chinese officials disclosed the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonialike illness to international health officials on New Year’s Eve, at least 430,000 people have arrived in the United States on direct flights from China, including nearly 40,000 in the two months after President Trump imposed restrictions on such travel, according to an analysis of data collected in both countries.

The bulk of the passengers, who were of multiple nationalities, arrived in January, at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Newark and Detroit. Thousands of them flew directly from Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, as American public health officials were only beginning to assess the risks to the United States.

Flights continued this past week, the data show, with passengers traveling from Beijing to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, under rules that exempt Americans and some others from the clampdown that took effect on Feb. 2. In all, 279 flights from China have arrived in the United States since then, and screening procedures have been uneven, interviews show.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested that his travel measures impeded the virus’s spread in the United States. “I do think we were very early, but I also think that we were very smart, because we stopped China,” he said at a briefing on Tuesday, adding, “That was probably the biggest decision we made so far.” Last month, he said, “We’re the ones that kept China out of here.”

snip

[mr_lebowski]

4. Headline is wrong, article says 14k per day ... (nt)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. The way it was written it was open to interpretation. Odd

Thing was Yale's study that CT cases started in WA.

[mr_lebowski]

9. I'm not sure how this is ambivalent ...

"Each day that the administration debated the travel measures, roughly 14,000 travelers arrived in the United States from China, according to figures cited by the Trump administration."

But it's your post, so

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. You're right, thanks.

[Celerity]

8. I was just adding background, not trying to correct anything, I was calling Trump's statement BS

[Laura PourMeADrink]

13. Sure, thanks for adding. All this is astounding

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. So we have to take a different approach. I saw an hour of

Faux last night and they already have a two prong strategy. They have outtakes of Biden, Pelosi and Sanders iffy about ban. And..China hiding numbers.

[Deep State Gnostic]

10. They gambled, and lost...bigly. nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. And they already have their defense. Means malfeasance is true

Impeach the MF again