Paul C. Avey

1 month ago | foreignaffairs.com | Edward Alden |Laurie Trautman |Paul C. Avey |Nicholas Mulder

When the COVID-19 virus began spreading across the world, five years ago, countries handled the crisis in myriad ways. Some locked down their populations; some encouraged testing, masking, and social distancing; some traced the outbreaks to cut off new infections; and some did almost nothing at all. But amid this variety of domestic public health measures, nearly every country pursued one common policy: closing their borders. Conservatives and liberals alike embraced border closures.