Health Expert: Closing Borders Won’t Stop Swine Flu, But Could Undermine Treatment
Lawmakers and immigration restrictionists advocating closure of the border with Mexico to prevent the spread of swine flu into the United States may want to
Jul 31, 2020180.6K Shares3.1M Views
Lawmakers and immigration restrictionists advocating closure of the border with Mexicoto prevent the spread of swine flu into the United States may want to stop and listen to what Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and a longtime adviser to the U.S. government on public health preparations, had to say about that idea.
“There is no connection between the severity of a pandemic and border crossings,” Osterholm said Tuesday during an interview on Public Radio International’s “The World.” What’s more, closing the border could actually inhibit the United States’ ability to obtain what it needs to treat patients and stop the swine flu’s spread. “Few people realize how many of the medical products we use in this country are made outside of the country,” Osterholm said.
These products include the circuits for mechanical ventilators that help people breathe in a severe case of the flu. “One of largest producers of circuits in the world is in Mexico,” said Osterholm. “So if we suddenly shut down the border we’d limit how many ventilators we could provide.”
So despite the hysteria in the United States and in Europe — where the European Union health minister just issued an advisory against travel to the United States and Mexico— Osterholm says: “Border closings in and of themselves do not accomplish walling yourself off from that virus.”
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Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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