Cotton Calls for Targeted China Travel Ban to Stop Coronavirus

Statement

Earlier today, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) sent a letter calling for the administration to take several steps to protect U.S. citizens from the coronavirus, including a ban on all commercial flights between the United States and China.

In addition to the targeted travel ban, his letter recommends the following course of action to stop the spread of coronavirus:

· Allow American citizens in China to evacuate under appropriate monitoring

· Allow critical trade to continue safely

· Allow medical personnel and scientists to travel to and from China

· Marshal the full resources of the federal government to engineer a vaccine

Senator Cotton sent the letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf. A link to the letter is here. Full text of the letter may be found below.

Senator Cotton is following up on his letter to Secretary Alex Azar on January 22 urging the government to prepare contingency measures, including a travel ban, in anticipation of the spread of coronavirus.

Source