Show me the meat one epidemic stopped at a border.
Couple points come to mind:
Just because an effort is unlikely to have perfect results, doesn't mean you don't make the attempt.
Why there aren't specific restrictions on those traveling through or from any of these 3 or 4 countries that currently are HOT is beyond me. Anyone that has one of these countries stamped on their passport needs to have special screening. Kind of like any traveler that currently travels to the US from Syria or Pakistan or shows on their passport to have traveled to one of these countries. But in this instance, people who have been in the HOT zone should be screened medically and profiled for their potential to be a vector.
Why we are providing any visas to anyone who is from the HOT zone is beyond me. Why we aren't restricting travel to the HOT zone for any US citizens except for medical personnel is also beyond me. If US citizens want to travel there, no problem, but they should be forced to quarantine themselves 3 weeks prior to their return.
As to your question Miles, the BSE epidemic that took place in Canada, Great Britain and the FMD epidemic that occurred in Europe and various countries in South America was mostly stopped in its tracks by severe travel restrictions.
Granted, these are an animal diseases, but that is the interesting thing. Our country attacked these problems more aggressively with regards to restrictions of cattle movement and movement of people as vectors than they are this outbreak of Ebola.
If you had traveled to a HOT zone during the BSE and FMD outbreaks, you were screened at multiple levels, required to answer direct questioning multiple times, forced to discard gear that could potentially be a carrying a vector, forced to wash and clean your shoes and other gear under the watchful eye of customs agents. Make sure you weren't transporting any meat product etc.
