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.