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| - US President Donald Trump announced a ban on entry into the United States of people coming from continental Europe to diminish the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. The ban applies to any foreign passport holder who has been in the 26 country Schengen open border area within 14 days of their seeking admission into the United States. The Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The ban does not apply to people from England, Ireland or Scotland, if they have not been in the Schengen countries in recent weeks. The ban begins from 11:59 pm eastern daylight time on March 13 -- midnight Friday -- and will not apply to any US-destination flight that departs before that time. Trump said in his televised announcement late Wednesday that the ban would be in place for 30 days. However, the official White House proclamation made no mention of that limit. "Hopefully we can get it back together very quickly," Trump told reporters Thursday. The US sees Europe as the current center of the outbreak posing the greatest risk, and that the Schengen area's open borders and their weak response to the disease enhance transmission. "The free flow of people between the Schengen Area countries makes the task of managing the spread of the virus difficult," the White House proclamation said. For the same reason, Trump banned entry from China on January 31, and blocked people coming from Iran, another focus of infections, on February 29. "Where our real threat is right now is Europe," Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control, said Wednesday. "If you want to be blunt, Europe is the new China." There was no official explanation on why Britain was excluded from the ban, other than it is not in the Schengen area. Trump explained Thursday that the United Kingdom has "very strong borders, and they are doing a very good job." "They don't have very much infection at this point and hopefully they will keep it that way." The ban applies to non-American citizens who have been in any of the 26 Schengen countries within 14 days of their planned entry into the Untied States. The ban is not focused on citizens of those countries, but anyone who has been physically present in them. It indicates that one cannot, for example, travel to a third country from Schengen Europe first and hope to be allowed into the United States. US citizens and permanent residents, spouses of US citizens or permanent residents, and the non-American parents and siblings of under-21 children who hold US citizenship will all be allowed to enter the United States, even if they had spent time recently in Schengen countries. Also exempted: foreign diplomats, NATO officials, and other government officials on state business; officials dealing with containing the impact of COVID-19, and air and sea crew. Also notably not covered: people traveling from, or who have recently visited, 23 European countries not in the Schengen area, such as Croatia, Romania, and Cyprus. As the rules stand they will not be allowed back in if they have been in Schengen countries in the previous 14 days. But there could be clarifications on this forthcoming. No. In his televised statement Trump said trade would be restricted but the White House clarified that commerce would not be restricted. "The free flow of commerce between the United States and the Schengen Area countries remains an economic priority for the United States," the White House proclamation said. pmh/jm
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