Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw had some blunt words for 2020 presidential hopeful Joseph R. Biden this week after the latter claimed that travel bans and “a wall will not stop the coronavirus.”
“A wall will not stop the coronavirus,” the former vice president tweeted Thursday. “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.”
Mr. Crenshaw observed that Mr. Biden’s clarion call for “a plan” most certainly would, for all intents and purposes, include walls, travel bans, and other measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“First, walls quite literally stop a virus,” the Republican responded. “It’s kind of the whole point of a quarantine, for instance. Second, assuming you meant this metaphorically, health experts like [Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health] and everyone else agree travel restrictions have vastly slowed the spread of the virus in the US.”
The conservative website Red State also responded to Mr. Biden by posting some of Dr. Fauci’s recent commentary on the Trump administration’s track record for combating the coronavirus.
“Yes, there’s no question that if we had not [implemented a travel ban] in a timely way, there would have been many more travel-related cases from China,” he said during a recent “Hannity” broadcast. “And as you know, the outbreak that we’re having here in the country, these cases originated from travel-related cases that came from China — and then we had the issue in Washington state and what we’re seeing now in other states.
“So, coming from outside within was the thing that started it,” the doctor continued. “So, I think [Trump’s travel restriction against flights from China] saved us a lot of — a lot of concern and a lot of suffering, I think.”
The World Health Organization recently said of the pandemic that roughly 125,000 individuals from 118 countries have been reported.
Patients who are most at risk for developing the worst symptoms are the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.
First, walls quite literally stop a virus. It’s kind of the whole point of a quarantine, for instance.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 13, 2020
Second, assuming you meant this metaphorically, health experts like Dr. Fauci and everyone else agree travel restrictions have vastly slowed the spread of the virus in the US. https://t.co/4osiZ47t7D
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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