Bipartisan Support For Ebola Travel Ban Emerges
By William Patrick, FloridaWatchdog.org // October 9, 2014
NELSON, SCOTT SUPPORT BAN
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Two of Florida’s top elected officials are calling on the Obama administration to temporarily ban travel to the United States from Ebola-ravaged West African countries.
The administration has steadfastly refused calls for travel bans since news of an infected Liberian national, Thomas Eric Duncan, landed in a Texas hospital last week. Duncan died of the virus Wednesday morning.
“This is not a partisan decision. It is a common sense decision,” Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, said Wednesday.
Scott called for a travel restriction and an all-options-on-the-table approach after meeting with state health and emergency officials and an afternoon conference call with President Obama.
“Florida still does not have any confirmed cases of Ebola, and we hope we never do, but we must continue to do everything possible to keep our citizens and our visitors safe,” Scott said.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., also wants to suspend travel from the afflicted region.
Unlike Scott, Nelson is not up for re-election in November.
Florida’s senior U.S. senator sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urging the administration to take what he considers a necessary precaution.
“It would seem that another means of reducing the chances of exposure to the virus here at home would be to temporarily suspend unnecessary travel to the United States under existing visas and the new issuance of visas for citizens of countries the CDC identifies as areas with high rates of infections,” Nelson wrote.
See the full story at Watchdog.org.
