Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday that President Donald Trump’s decision early in the coronavirus outbreak to stop travel from China was “one of the things we did right.”
The medical advisor to the president’s coronavirus task force told MSNBC that the move has had a real impact on containing the pandemic.
“One of the things we did right was very early cut off travel from China to the United States. Because outside of China, where it originated, the countries in the world that have it are through travel, either directly from China or indirectly from someone who went someplace and then came to that particular country,” Fauci explained. (RELATED: Dr. Anthony Fauci Comes Close To Recommending Complete Shutdown Of All Bars And Restaurants)
“Our shutting off travel from China and, more recently, travel from Europe, has gone a long way to not seeding very, very intensively the virus in our country. Unfortunately, Italy did not do that. They had an open border, they let people in. And until they really knew they were in trouble, then the cat was out, the horse was out of the barn and that was it.”
President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, joined by members of the Coronavirus Task Force, field questions about the coronavirus outbreak in the press briefing room at the White House on March 17, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Trump continues to be criticized for reminding people that the COVID-19 virus originated in China, with some in the media calling the president’s description “racist” and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden insisting it is “xenophobic.” (RELATED: US Surgeon General Tells Media To Stop Sniping At Trump Over Coronavirus: ‘No More Bickering … Or Finger Pointing)
The president declared a national emergency last Saturday in response to the pandemic, days after he announced a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States.