AI-generated image: Manus 1.6 Lite
Headline: MedPage, 7/20/2026
Lawrence Goston reports:
Having dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and decimated the CDC's global health capacities, the Trump administration has resorted to a blunt instrument to protect the American public from the Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak rapidly escalating across the Democratic Republic of Congo: shutter our borders.
The State Department's plan to establish a 50-bed Ebola quarantine and triage facility at Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki, Kenya, appeared to collapse following intense public protests and a court order requiring the government to suspend construction. Yet, construction continued. In MedPage Today I explained everything wrong with the offshore quarantine plan. More recently, on July 13, the CDC issued an emergency order to extend a ban of virtually all foreign nationals who were in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan in the past 21 days from flying into the U.S. The same day, the Trump administration in effect extended the ban to cover American citizens in Congo from flying into the U.S. by placing them on a "do-not-board" (DNB) list.
The problem is that border closures don't work. The World Health Organization urges against travel restrictions, and they violate U.S. treaty obligations under the International Health Regulations. Further, while U.S. citizens possess a constitutional right to return home, the administration argues that this restriction is legally permissible. In my expert legal opinion, it is not.
Other Blunder Bus posts:
July 2026
World Cup. (7/7)
American 250. (7/3)
War of Whimsy. (7/1)
June 2026
E. Jean Carroll. (6/30)
American 250, part 2. (6/30)
America 250. (6/27)
Lackland AFB flu outbreak, (6/27)
Kennedy Center. (6/24)
Reflecting Pool. (6/24)
Iran War. (6/24)
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