> And yet he was ahead of almost everyone in doing that - no other politicians or agencies were calling for it, most were denouncing it.

You’ve been fooled by fake news. Just google and you’ll find the truth. Here’s an article from February 2 “All over the world, countries are imposing travel bans on visitors who’ve been to China“ https://qz.com/1795615/coronavirus-travel-bans-on-china-impo...

So it’s the exact opposite of what you said - politicians all over the world were doing just that.

According to a later analysis at https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/apr/13/joe-biden/...

“ By the group’s count, Biden is correct about 45 nations restricting travel from China before the United States.That number covers variations of travel restrictions in effect up to and including Feb. 1.”

Politifact has been wrong more time’s than I can count.

First, US closed late Jan before they are citing many others than closed right after that, I know someone who was disallowed before the 31st but they wouldn’t be straightforward on why, so the admin was restricting travel even before the announcement.

And I was referring mostly to within the US there, and with the WHO. Here’s Biden right after the ban:

> We need to lead the way with science -- not Donald Trump's record of hysteria, xenophobia and fear-mongering.

And before you reply saying he didn’t mean directly at the ban, I don’t buy it. It was sent directly after the announcement specifically saying “xenophobic” and suggesting the alternative was “science”. That isn’t someone who is signaling they support it.

Yes, he was ahead of everyone in proposing the thing that didn't work, while to this day casting doubt on things like masking.

Saying "The WHO did things similarly shockingly bad three times or so during the pandemic" and then pivoting to praise Trump on his COVID handling is pretty hilarious.

It did work, absolutely.

Editing here as I can’t reply. I’m not debating on failure vs success in the US in this thread, you seem to be caught up in that. I’m simply completely refuting that the WHO was even close to doing well.

Here’s a decent summary of multiple mistakes and pandering to China: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-h...

The WHO themselves even said they made a “huge mistake”. So I guess you’re out there on your own in defending them.

But more than that, anyone paying attention saw they were in China’s pocket. You’re grossly misinformed.

As evidenced by our status as the world's largest and most sustained COVID-19 hot spot?

What's your definition of failing?

If an infectious disease breaks out in your country do you a) close the gates, b) let people travel, c) do nothing?

We picked d) ban travel from one of many countries with active infections to score political points.

We didn’t even do that properly - American citizens were allowed to return, weren’t screened, and were asked to observe a “voluntary” quarantine.

We wound up mostly getting it from Europe, where we similarly didn’t restrict until it was far too late.

I agree -- shut the border completely or not at all; but I was referring more about where it started rather than where it spread to.