Fauci Says ‘I Do Feel Really Badly About’ Biden’s Covid Travel Restrictions on Southern African Countries

America’s top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed sympathy on Wednesday for those affected by the travel restrictions on eight southern African countries in response to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Since Monday, the United States has restricted travel to anyone who isn’t a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi. Those eligible to enter the United States from those places must test negative for the coronavirus.

During a CNN town hall with Fauci and other health figures, hosted by Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta, a video was played of a South African named Liam.

“As a proud south African I’ve watched in recent days as the world has shut its doors to my country,” said Liam. “South Africa has undoubtedly been punished for its discovery of the Omicron variants which raises an important question: Why would countries report future variants if they are simply slapped with discriminatory travel bans? These travel bans have certainly set a treacherous precedent.”

In response, Fauci said Liam’s concern has “some merit”:

You know, I think there is some merit to that. We felt, at least I felt, and I know several of the members of the team felt, really badly about that because the South Africans have been extremely transparent and collegial in getting information to us. It was a very difficult choice to make because we had no idea what was going on when you saw what was coming out, so we felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

And we really are sensitive to and appreciate what the situation is, particularly as reflected by the comments that you just showed on the screen. I would hope that we’d get enough information soon that we could pull back on that as quickly as possible because you don’t want individual countries to feel that when they are honest and transparent that there are negative consequences for them. So I do really feel badly about that.

Watch above, via CNN.