Joe Biden will have some thinking to do about Covid-19 restrictions

A recent note from US attorney general Merrick Garland provides an insight into the issues about having people adhere to the rules, writes Chris Stevenson

Biden has announced that the US will restrict travel from South Africa (Getty)

Just as Boris Johnson and the UK government have some decisions to make about how to deal with the omicron variant of Covid-19, so does Joe Biden.

Biden has already announced that the US will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday. The other nations on that list are Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. While no cases of the omicron variant have yet been discovered in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on Sunday that he "would not be surprised" if omicron had already made its way to the country.

"We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you're already having travel-related cases that they've been noted in Israel and Belgium and in other places – when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over,” Fauci told NBC's Today.

Fauci added a call for people to get vaccinated – a message that you will no doubt hear from Biden as well over the coming days.

Compulsory masks are the latest rule to make a return in the UK, which has been resented by some – and they certainly cause some consternation in the US. Biden has repeatedly called for people to wear masks in different settings over the last year and a recent story shows that any mandates need to be backed up to ensure they are followed.

Attorney general Merrick Garland has directed government prosecutors to make federal crimes on commercial airliners a priority, writing in a note that the Justice Department is "concerned about a rise in criminal behavior". The Federal Aviation Administration says there have been 5,338 reports of unruly passengers in 2021, with the significant majority of them apparently starting as disputes over requirements to wear masks. In July the FAA said 75 per cent of unruly passenger incidents up to that point were due to masks. “Passengers who assault, intimidate, or threaten violence against flight crews and flight attendants do more than harm those employees. They prevent the performance of critical duties that help ensure safe air travel,” Garland said in his note.

It is clear the White House will think carefully about how it goes about advising or issuing rules to the country – keeping compliance as high as possible will be important.