from the editor healthcarehygienemagazine
Pandemics Emphasize the Importance of Addressing Immigration , International Visitors , and Public Health
In this issue we tackle the thorny issue of the impact of immigration on public health , noting all sides of the contentious issue , with the desire to balance healthcare provision to migrants and striving for the protection of U . S . citizens .
As Dallas , et al . ( 2018 ) observe , “ In the United States , migration has been documented to affect the prevalence of infectious disease . As a mitigation entity , border security has been recorded by numerous scholarly works as being essential to the support of the health of the U . S . population . Consequently , the lack of current healthcare monitoring of the permeable U . S . border places the U . S . population at risk in the broad sectors of infectious disease and interpersonal violence . Because human health requires maintenance and proactive intervention , it is becoming increasingly evident that a health security system is necessary for the conservation of the public health as a whole . Therefore , the border of the nation could be identified as a fundamental level of security for public health in the United States . This preeminent feature of the importance of border health security has been amply demonstrated by the historical experience in numerous countries by the health impact of the security of their state border , or lack thereof .”
Just this month , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) issued orders to implement the new travel policy announced by the Biden administration to safely resume global travel to the U . S . while attempting to protect the health and safety of American communities from COVID-19 . These orders put in place what the government calls “ a stringent and
consistent global international travel policy that is guided by public health .”
The Oct . 25 , 2021 announcement means that on Nov . 8 , non-U . S . citizens who are not immigrants to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of their vaccination status to fly to the United States . The CDC says there will be very limited exceptions to this vaccination requirement for certain non-U . S . citizens who are not immigrants , including children under the age of 18 . The CDC adds that fully vaccinated air passengers , regardless of citizenship , will continue to be required to show a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test taken no more than three days before they board their flight to the United States . For passengers who are not fully vaccinated , the rules will tighten to require a test taken no more than one day before departing to the U . S . All air passengers to the U . S . will also be required to provide contact information to airlines before boarding flights , for contact tracing purposes .
Taking a riff from the Robert Frost poem “ Mending Wall ,” where he suggests that “ good fences make good neighbors ,” it must be asked , do good borders make for good public health policy ? There seems to be some evidence indicating that they do . As Frost ponders : “ Before I built a wall I ’ d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out / And to whom I was like to give offense .” I would say that good policy makes for better health for everyone , without making or taking offense . Until next month , bust those bugs !
Kelly M . Pyrek Editor & Publisher kelly @ healthcarehygienemagazine . com
A . G . Hettinger , CPA president & CFO
Patti Valdez art director
J . Christine Phillips customer service manager
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