A coronavirus pandemic is about to get into full swing. The U.S. government has suspended travel from the Old Continent, with the exception of the United Kingdom and other European countries. Here are some of the latter.

According to factcheck.org, this is not a travel ban. As will be explained later, this is a travel restriction that does not apply to U.S. citizens, their immediate family members, permanent residents, or certain other people.

The government has banned travel by non-authorized persons who are leaving 26 European countries or have been in these countries within the past 14 days.

These EU countries are members of the Schengen Agreement, a group of European countries that share the free movement of persons with each other.

For an alphabetical list, click here:

In addition to these countries, undocumented persons who have been in China, Iran, or South Korea for 14 days prior to their intended entry date are also prohibited from entering the United States.

Exceptions are made for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent resident aliens, and immediate family members of U.S. citizens, even when departing from these countries. According to the Department of Homeland Security, these include:

Other groups are not subject to travel restrictions:

They may be quarantined if authorities deem it necessary. However, we can report that as of yesterday, there were no temperature controls in place at New York's JFK airport, one of the busiest airports in the world and one of the main entry points into the United States.

The White House announced that these restrictions would last for 30 days beginning Friday at 11:59 p.m. EST.

No, people in non-Schengen countries can travel to the United States. This includes:

Notably, non-Schengen members can easily enter one of these countries without being checked at the border while traveling in Europe.

The U.S. felt the repercussions immediately after the entry ban was announced, and once again the stock market was in turmoil.

Experts say that the immigration ban will have a major impact on the economy both in the U.S. and abroad, with airlines being the first to be hit. All businesses with international connections will be hit hard, and job and financial losses will ripple throughout the economy, adding to the regional-level losses the U.S. is already experiencing. As one example, China's travel restrictions affected Apple and its ability to deliver the iPhone 9 and iPhone 12 on time.

It is unlikely that this travel restriction will have any impact. For example, the United Kingdom is inexplicably exempt from the travel ban. At the time of this article's publication, there have been 373 cases and six deaths in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that it is one of the countries where the number of infected people has skyrocketed.

However, even discounting the UK, once the virus has taken hold in the region, the strict travel ban has proven to have no effect: according to a research paper published on March 6, "The travel quarantine in Wuhan has only delayed the overall progress of the epidemic by three to five days in mainland China, but has had a more pronounced effect on an international scale, the effect was more pronounced, with a nearly 80% reduction in case imports through mid-February." While this seems like mixed news, the paper adds: "Modeling results show that continuing 90% travel restrictions to and from mainland China will have only a marginal impact on the epidemic trajectory unless it reduces transmission in the community by 50% or more.

And here's the thing: the virus has been on the loose in the U.S. for weeks now. Although the number of infected people is increasing dramatically on the East and West coasts, rapid spread to all continental states will be inevitable unless further measures are taken to restrict travel between states and between certain regions. The scientific consensus is that the spread of the infection is inevitable.

Even if most of the population will eventually contract the coronavirus, just as all of us will eventually contract the flu, there are things we can do to slow the spread and reduce stress in the health care system.

Again, to stay safe, coronavirus protection is essential:

Be considerate, remember common sense, don't panic, and consult local authorities and the CDC information page on coronavirus COVID-19.