My thoughts on today's executive action re Covid travel restrictions:

1. Unlike the Trump admin, which used bogus econ arguments, these bans are designed with public health in mind. They don't impose new visa restrictions but do give DoState a chance to weigh in so stay alert.

2. A neg test + travel restrictions + quarantine might help stem the flow of Covid variants into the US & give the US public health system time to ramp up. Might. Only time will tell.

3. Travel bans & visa bans are not the same. I'm not a fan of either; visa bans are way worse.

4. The existing Trump visa bans are bad. They are effective until 3/31 & while I tend to think they'll remain in place til they expire or are struck by a court, I hope the Biden Admin won't renew or broaden them.

5. The visa bans are bad policy & illegal. Travel bans stop travel from certain places if you've been there within the past 14 days. But visa bans prevent travel to the US at all. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to get a visa & plan to travel to the US from elsewhere.

6. Visa bans also promote family separation & are a drain on business. The prohibition on visa issuance keeps spouses and partners apart and inhibits the ability of corporations to move people around the globe.

7. Plus the law that allows a President to make these restrictions only allows him to ban entry -- not to ban visas. So visa bans are not legal & Pres Biden would be wise to avoid them.

Hopefully, if the Biden team can ramp up vaccination efforts soon, we can start to open up travel more broadly again. I'm impatiently waiting for that to happen. But until that happens, it seems like we'll be stuck with these restrictions for awhile. End.