The evidence has become pretty obvious that the United States has successfully “flattened the curve.” Brazil has not. The Trump administration is now in the position of making sure that the “second wave” that we all want to avoid doesn’t come from offshore.

As a result, President Trump issued a formal ban on travel from Brazil which will take effect on Thursday night, May 28th. It is just like the bans on travel from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, China, and Iran.

In a White House proclamation, President Donald Trump said he was restricting nearly all non-U.S. citizens from coming to the U.S. if they were physically present in Brazil during the 14-day period prior to travel. Green card holders, close relatives of U.S. citizens and flight crew members are exempt.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security have determined that Brazil is “experiencing widespread, ongoing person-to-person transmission” of the virus, the proclamation read.”

“The potential for undetected transmission of the virus by infected individuals seeking to enter the United States from the Federative Republic of Brazil threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security,” Trump wrote.”

According to Johns Hopkins University, Brazil had more than 347,000 cases and 22,000 deaths as of Sunday evening. The U.S. has surpassed 1.6 million cases and 97,000 deaths.”

The White House is also saying it will be sending ventilators to Brazil.

(2/2) The Administration is donating 1,000 ventilators from the American people to assist #Brazil with its medical needs. The United States recognizes the strong efforts of the Brazilian government & will soon be further strengthening our partnership on defense & trade.

— NSC (@WHNSC) May 25, 2020

As the United States struggles both with the coronavirus and with itself to start reopening the economy again, the last thing we need is a tsunami from Brazil to start ballooning the curve back up. This was the only rational solution, and Brazil seems to be taking it very much in stride.

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 from the press.”

The American press seems to be taking this travel ban on Brazil rather calmly, considering the rank hysteria that occurred when the initial travel ban on China was announced. In fact, the press has its panties more in a twist over Trump golfing this weekend than they do about blocking travel from Brazil. Funny, that.

The United States isn’t the only country that is concerned about a potential second wave. Japan is set to let all of its emergency orders expire today, WITHOUT a complicated contact tracing program in place and a lot of questions as to why Japan, a country well known for its large elderly population, has managed to not be overwhelmed by COVID-19. The problem is, no one seems to really know how that happened.

Analyzing just how Japan defied the odds and contained the virus while disregarding the playbook used by other successful countries has become a national conversation. Only one thing is agreed upon: that there was no silver bullet, no one factor that made the difference.”

“Just by looking at death numbers, you can say Japan was successful,” said Mikihito Tanaka, a professor at Waseda University specializing in science communication, and a member of a public advisory group of experts on the virus. “But even experts don’t know the reason.”

And while they are not opening the country back up to tourism just yet, they are starting to prepare for a huge campaign to draw tourists back in. Not just yet, because every single country (with the exception of Sweden) is wary of a second wave.

While the travel ban has consequences, and our closed borders are making life difficult, no one wants a slightly new mutation of COVID-19 to be seeded into the United States right now. We want to get out of lockdown, not keep inviting more of it. Hopefully Brazil can flatten its curve quickly, without the virus spreading extensively to other areas of South America.

Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license