President Donald Trump on Sunday further limited travel from the world’s coronavirus hot spots by denying entry to foreigners coming from Brazil, which is second to the U.S. in the number of confirmed cases with over 363,000 per the Johns Hopkins University global research into cases, the Associated Press has reported.
The ban on travel from Brazil takes effect late Thursday. As with the other bans, it does not apply to legal permanent residents. A spouse, parent or child of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident also would be allowed to enter the country. The restrictions also do not apply to trade between the U.S. and Brazil.
This is of concern to the tourism industry in Central Florida and Osceola County, a business sector already battered by the global coronavirus pandemic, because Brazil represents a very popular market for local visits. While attending the opening of Orlando City Soccer’s new Osceola Heritage Park training complex, Experience Kissimmee noted Brazilians comprise the largest volume of overseas guests to the Kissimmee and Orlando area.
“We’re concerned about the people of the Southern Hemisphere and certainly the people of Brazil. They’re having a rough go of it,” Robert O’Brien, the U.S. national security adviser, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He said the travel ban would likely be temporary.
The White House said Sunday it plans to donate 1,000 ventilators to Brazil.
Filipe Martins, who advises Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on international affairs, said the U.S. was treating Brazil as it had other populous countries and suggested the news media were overplaying Trump’s ban.
“By temporarily banning the entry of Brazilians to the U.S., the American government is following previously established quantitative parameters that naturally reach a country as populous as ours,” Martins tweeted. “There isn’t anything specifically against Brazil. Ignore the hysteria.”
Trump had already banned certain travelers from China, Europe, the United Kingdom and Iran. Those travel bans were questioned by some when they were put in place by the Trump administration, but many now believe they were necessary actions that slowed the spreading of COVID-19 from those traveling to the United States after having been exposed to the highly contagious virus abroad.
