Trump’s move to ban travel between US and China not a great moment: Pelosi

Team Udayavani, Apr 27, 2020, 8:18 AM IST

Washington: President Donald Trump’s decision in late January to ban travel between the US and China was not a great moment in the fight against coronavirus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

Trump has repeatedly described his decision to implement a travel ban between the US and China as his best and earliest move to fight the pandemic.

“Actually, tens of thousands of people were still allowed in from China. So it wasn’t, as it is described, as this great moment. There were Americans coming back or green card holders coming back. But there were tens of thousands,” Pelosi told CNN.

“If you’re going to shut the door because you have an evaluation of an epidemic, then shut the door, she said, continuing to be critical of the Trump’s policies on coronavirus pandemic that has so far killed more than 54,000 Americans.

“Let’s go into the future. What the American people want is for us to have a plan to go forward. And our plan to go forward addresses their concerns, she said.

Their first concern is that our heroes be taken care of, our health care workers, our police and fire, our emergency services, our teachers, our food service people, our transportation workers, our Postal Service, that they be taken care of… because they are taking risks to do their jobs, she said.

Secondly, people want their checks under the stimulus package. They have all not gotten them, and we have to have oversight as to how quickly that should be moving, she said.

In another interview to MSNBC, Pelosi said that the numbers are staggering in terms of the infections, but also, the deaths.

Pelosi slammed Trump for making comments about disinfectants as potential treatment for coronavirus patients.

Trump on Wednesday suggested the possibility of studying injecting disinfectants into COVID-19 patients or bringing UV light “inside” their bodies to kill the deadly virus, drawing immediate flak from health experts while a leading disinfectant producer urged people not to listen to such dangerous speculation.

“We have these comments coming out of the White House, that the president has been irresponsible and we have insisted on the truth. He said it was a hoax; he said it would go away magically; he said all kinds of things that were not true. And people believe him. He’s the president of the United States. The president’s words have weight. They have weight, Pelosi said.

So now that he’s gone to this limit, at least it means that lots of scientists and medical professionals have come forth and said, ‘No, he has gone too far this time.’ As I said, as a mom and a grandmother, I’m embarrassed sometimes about how the president talks… This is dangerous, she said.