Tunisia to USA tourists: Stay away.

American exceptionalism.

Tunisia has opened its borders to tourists. People from Europe are welcome. From China, too. Not Americans. 

The USA failed a competency test.

Tunisia is evidence. Its decision on whom can enter the country is a signal. 

Tunisia is a Mediterranean country in North Africa. It is just below Sicily and Sardinia, with interesting ruins from the Roman Empire era and sunny beaches. My mental image of Tunisia is primarily as a small and inconsequential place, one lacking the resources or ambition to make controversial statements. They aren't signaling alliances or ideology or pro-American or anti-American sentiments. Theirs is a tourist economy. They just want tourists to come, spend money, leave happy and tell their friends, and not make trouble while they are visiting. 

Tunisia has banned visitors from the USA. 

On June 15 Tunisia had decided that the worst of the COVID epidemic was over, and they re-opened their borders to tourists, with an effective date of June 27. On June 25 they retracted that announcement and replaced it with a Green Light, Orange Light, and Red Light code representing permission to enter from various countries.

Green Light.  These would be countries that most Americans would consider similar to us, the prosperous, developed world, places with competent government and modern health systems. Places where one would drink the water and take a family on vacation: Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, the UK.  It includes countries that had been in the news as having disastrous COVID outbreaks; Italy is Green Light.  

It also includes another sixty countries that most Americans will consider to be sketchier, poorer, less developed, places with less competent governments and health care systems: Bhutan, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Cuba, Gambia, Laos, Malaysia, Tanzania, Timor, Vietnam, and many others--all Green Light countries.

People from Green Light countries are welcome. 

Orange Light: This list includes Afghanistan, Bosnia, Congo, Gabon, Haiti, Mali, Senegal, Ukraine, Zambia and many more. Note that these include ones in active shooting wars, and it includes countries Trump would surely have included as "shit-hole countries." People from Orange countries may come if they present evidence of a negative test taken within the previous 72 hours.

Red Light: everyone else, which would include Brazil and the USA. Americans are not welcome.

Two American narratives.  

In one media and political environment--one being advanced by Trump and his media and political allies--America has been very successful in addressing the virus. We've done a great job, nay-sayers like the CDC and Dr. Andrew Fauci have it wrong, and all this virus talk is an overblown Democratic election hoax. Trump retweeted this comment by a conservative TV host. 

Currently polls show Dr. Fauci to be more credible than Trump, but the White House is turning up the volume of criticism of Dr. Fauci, and Trump has a happier message to sell, one people want to hear, that everything is OK, kids back to school, the economy back up and running, all good. 

The other narrative is that we still have a problem and it is getting worse, because we messed this up. Democrats are saying Trump ignored the problem then minimized it, blamed others, ignored expert advice, and made the virus response a statement about freedom and wishful thinking and the stock market, not about a responsible response to public health.

Which is the more true narrative? The political jury in America is deliberating until November, but the country of Tunisia cast its vote now. It desperately wants tourists, but not from the USA.