As recently as Tuesday, Donald Trump was tweeting from his pulpit urging Americans to stay calm in the face of what the President of the United States claimed was essentially just the flu (which kills many more people a year, dontcha know?).

Today, he banned travel to the US from the Schengen Area in an attempt to protect America from the “horrible infection” coronavirus. While dramatic about-faces are not out of character for the Donald, it appears that this one in particular portends a worrying approach to a systematic and global pandemic.

Covid-19 is without a doubt not just the flu. With transmission rates - and more importantly death rates - several times higher than the standard flu, and with no natural immunity or vaccine, Covid-19 poses a much greater threat. An additional problem arises when there is a threat of transmission across borders, but no proven strategy for combating the virus. Some countries like South Korea, Taiwan, and Denmark implemented drastic and immediate measures to contain the spread, to marked success, especially in South Korea. Italy has completely shut down to combat their own crisis. And now it seems the US is attempting to take a similar approach.

But what Trump doesn’t seem to realise is that he needs to be cautious of enemies both foreign and domestic; Covid-19 is already inside the US. The borders have been breached. Implementing a short unilateral travel ban from one specific region is not only ineffective, but irresponsible. As the EU said in their response to his measures, it is imperative that we work together to combat the spread.