'Symbolic': Biden's southern African travel ban scrutinized after Trump criticism

President Joe Biden had barely contained the delta COVID-19 variant when he slapped travel bans on South Africa and seven neighboring countries as he waits for more information regarding the new omicron strain.

But Biden's decision to close the U.S. border to southern African visitors has been blasted by travel lobby groups and attracted hypocrisy complaints after he seemed to suggest former President Donald Trump's travel bans were "xenophobic."

Biden's travel ban is "symbolic," according to public health communications expert Glen Nowak. For Nowak, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman, movement restrictions "are far less effective" at stopping the spread of highly transmissible viruses such as COVID-19.

"We're seeing that this new variant is in many countries already," he said. "So it's probably more symbolic at this point."