Is the U.S. Discriminatating Against African, Other Countries with the Omicron Travel Ban?

(The Slice): Reporters on Wednesday left the White House on the defenseive with questions related to several African countries that are not being permitted to come to the U.S. under new travel restrctions. In the White House daily briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was faced with several questions about the international the ban taht she described as "temporary" being imposed in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Dr. Antony Fauci of the White House COVID-19 Response Team joined the briefing to announce the U.S. has confirmed its first case in Califronia and took questions.

When asked about the new guidance fhat prevents entry to the U.S. from foreigners he said they were designed to "buy time" to give the U.S. an opportunity to learn more about the new virus. Pres. Joe Biden offered similar reasoning when addressing the nation on the matter the day before. Yet, the travel guidance does not appear to be dispersed equally, particularly to African countries where the variant has been loosely traced to.

The concern reporters illuminated the fact that there are African nations blocked from traveling to have no cases of the new variant, while there are European countries that do and are not on the banned.

A reporter from Africa News Today inquired as to the justificartion for banning African countries such as Malawi, Moczambique and Zimbabwe.) that have "zero" cases. These countries are among 9 that were banned within days od news of the new variant surfacing. A Reuters reporter asked if European nations that have cases and are not currently banned will be placed on the list. The U.S. has not banned any European nations. South African has les than 100 caes country-wide, but was immediately ostracized from engaging in travel to America. The new Omicron variant confrmed by Dutch authorities to have been in tehir country before it was announced in South African. This is evidence that the virus had already begin to spread in western Europe before the first cases were revealed in SouthAfrica. South African leader Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa immediate sentiment toward the U.S. was that the ban was discriminatory he stated in an address.

U.S. health experts admit that travel ban in and of itself will not necessarily prevent the spread of the disease but insist it is a measure of caution.

Asked whether the travel ban's end will conincide with the availability of more data or when it will be over, Press Secretary Jen Psaki told The Slice. The president s being updated on the situation daily and continue to relly on when the travel ban will end.