How did America become a pariah nation of
super-spreaders?
Francine
Prose
The EU is considering excluding US travelers from
visiting when borders open up on July 1. Sadly, they have a point
‘if the Europeans don’t want us anywhere near them,
some of the responsibility lies with those Americans who so proudly and
fiercely insist on their God-given freedom to spread the virus.’
Published
onFri 26 Jun 2020 11.14 BST
Everyone I
know has a place to which they dream of going when travel once again becomes
easy or, more importantly, safe. Some imagine a journey to visit family in
another part of our country. One friend hopes to fulfill her lifelong ambition
of seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland. And lately, since my Italian friends
have been posting, on social media, images of the empty streets of Rome, the
placid canals and under-populated piazzas of Venice, I’ve found myself counting
the days until I can visit Italy, the country (other than my own) where I’ve
always felt happiest, most comfortable, most at home. I’ve fantasized how many
masks and bottles of hand sanitizer it would require for me to take advantage
of the cheap flights and ignore the obvious risks of transatlantic travel – and
meet my friends for a dish of fried artichokes and spaghetti alle vongole in my
favorite outdoor trattoria in Trastevere.
But now, it
seems, the bad news about our political situation has once again intensified
the terrible news about the virus. And it’s begun to appear that even if we
wanted to travel to Europe – even if had the money and were willing to take
that considerable risk – we might not be allowed to go.
Over the
past days, the European Union has announced it is considering excluding
Americans from the list of travelers who will be admitted to EU countries when
their borders open up on 1 July. It’s not a matter of politics, not a
retaliation for the fact that Donald Trump has banned travelers from Europe
from entering the United States, but a more commonsense scientific decision
based solely on criteria having to do with health: America has done such a poor
job of controlling the Covid-19 outbreak that our infection rate is increasing
dramatically while that of most European nations (and others such as Cuba,
China and Vietnam) is either remaining stable or decreasing. We’re simply too
dangerous – too likely to bring the deadly virus along with the more welcome
(and needed) tourist dollars.
Clearly,
it’s not a decision that will be made lightly. American tourists contribute
heavily to the European economy, and a travel ban will significantly affect the
ability of American companies to do business abroad. But unlike the US states
that rushed to reopen too soon, that so clearly prioritized economic recovery
over human life, the EU countries are saying they’d rather take the financial
hit than see more of their citizens die.
Of course,
given the current state of our economy, it’s unlikely that all that many
Americans will be able to afford that dream trip to Paris this summer, even if
we were allowed entry into France. Still, it’s a strange feeling: in just a few
months, we’ve become a pariah nation. We’ve gone from being admired for our
spirit, our culture, our stalwart devotion to freedom despite our government’s
persistent attempts to curtail those freedoms – and are now being viewed as a
nation of super-spreaders, a danger to our own health and that of the hotel
reception clerk, the waiter at the café, the two innocent grandmas with the bad
luck to sit at a table too near the Americans sipping their morning cappuccini.
It’s
unlikely many Americans will be able to afford that dream trip to Paris this
summer, even if we were allowed in
It’s a
clear rebuke to the way that Donald Trump has handled the Covid-19 crisis:
refusing to take it seriously, promising that the virus will “fade away”,
advocating unproven cures, and (perhaps most unbelievably of all) suggesting
that wearing a mask is a political gesture: a sign that we don’t like him. But
given that Trump has proven himself incapable of being embarrassed by anything
– except perhaps the low turnout at one of his rallies – it seems unfair that
we should be the ones who are being made to feel ashamed of what has happened
to the ways in which the world views us.
And yet as
much as I’d like to like to blame Trump for the tragic way in which this crisis
has played out, the truth is that it’s largely but not entirely his fault.
Blame must also be laid at the feet of the governors who ignored the CDC
warnings and rushed to re-open their states, and on a system that lacks a
safety net to help us through crises like this, so that people are forced to
choose between going to work and possibly getting sick – or letting their
families go hungry and lose their homes.
But
finally, if the Europeans don’t want us anywhere near them, some of the
responsibility lies with those Americans who so proudly and fiercely insist on
their God-given freedom to spread the virus.
Trump has
consistently modeled bad behavior by refusing to wear a mask. He has
unconscionably tried to turn the question of mask-wearing into yet another
battle in the culture wars, but so far he has not made it illegal to wear a
mask and to help stop the spread of infection. Being safe and smart is still
our individual prerogative. So if you’re concerned about the poor job we have
done in keeping our neighbors and loved ones from dying, about the sharp spike
in infections and hospitalizations, and now about the fact that we might not be
allowed to travel to the destinations we have been dreaming about during this
long quarantine, you might want to look in the mirror. And see if you are
wearing a mask.
Francine
Prose is a novelist and the former president of PEN America
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