Obama Admin Ebola Czar: Coronavirus Travel Ban “Distraction Tactic”

Former Obama White House Ebola response coordinator Ron Klain blasted Donald Trump’s announced travel ban on Europe in response to the Chinese coronavirus as a political move during an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday night.

“Part of this is the classic Trump distraction tactic and he wants to see progressives debate the travel ban, so on and so forth, and not come after where he has failed.”

The President announced a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States as a result of the widespread reach of the virus on the continent. The United Kingdom is exempt from the temporary travel ban.

Klain slammed Trump for the lack of testing for the virus in the United States when compared to countries such as South Korea, where 2,000 out of every one million people have been tested for the virus.

He may have missed that a major element of Trump’s national address on the situation addressed new means to produce more testing kits for the virus. South Korea’s experience with the virus(it’s arguably the second hardest hit country) has come as a result of its proximity to China.

Klain’s remarks come as a stark contrast to Trump’s national address, in which he emphasized the need for Americans to unite across political lines and take every step possible to fight the virus without partisan considerations.

If there are some who seek to immediately cast the moves taken to halt the coronavirus’ spread as a political gambit, then they are the ones treating a serious national health threat to older Americans as a partisan game.