Ambrose: Trying to make sense of pandemic

Maybe in retrospect, a half-century from now, as historians look at all the facts, figures and long-term outcomes, we will understand the pandemic crisis, how it got started, what policies worked and whether honesty and science were sometimes set aside. As for right now, did President Joe Biden do the right thing by banning travel from southern Africa, the apparent birthplace of a new COVID-19 variant called omicron?

Yes, say some who note this virus is spreading fast. Others say no, arguing that we don’t yet know whether it’s a terrible danger or nothing much. Excuse me, but do you refuse to put on a seat belt in your car because you don’t know if you will have an accident? Presidential advisers are reported by the New York Times to have discussed the matter with Biden, saying a ban would not stop the virus’s entry into our homeland. OK, said Biden and others, but even a little extra time could conceivably be consequential.

Politics may play a role here. Forget the ban and encounter tragedy and what will the public think? Of course, people want to return to normal, maybe fearing that a travel ban could signal such things as lockdowns to come even though Biden says there will be no more lockdowns. It is meanwhile the case that even a short-term travel ban will do economic harm to eight countries. America could suffer, too.

Still another issue for Biden has been his mandate that workers in businesses of more than 100 workers should be vaccinated or regularly tested if they want to keep their jobs. His overall purpose was right even if he should have relied on Congress to pass a law with somewhat different rules instead of barking orders. What is on his side are statistics showing that unvaccinated people are many times more likely to be infected than the vaccinated.

Something like 80 percent of American adults have received at least one shot, and the vaccine has saved us from what could have been more a massacre than a crisis. The question is not whether personal freedom is at stake. It is whether you will get a job in which you could infect others.