CDC Director: Shutting down airflights from West Africa would BACKFIRE and endanger Americans MORE?

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden visited MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday morning and attempted to answer the question that many are asking – why aren’t we shutting down every plane flight coming from West Africa?

Watch below:

His answer seemed vague and unpersuasive:

“The only way we’re going to get to zero risk is by stopping the outbreak at its source… we know that as long as the outbreak is in Africa, we’re potentially at risk because even if we tried to close the border it wouldn’t work… And it would backfire because by isolating thee countries it’ll make it harder to help them, it’ll spread more there, and we’ll be more likely to be exposed.

Isn’t there a difference between shutting down normal travel from affected areas and abandoning them altogether? We could still send doctors and other resources to try to solve the problem without keeping our airports open to any potential infected person.


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