Persona Non Grata
In their ill-fated aim at curbing the spread of new Covid variants, Europeans countries have closed their borders to non-EU residents. Aggressive Covid variants have been popping up in several places; Brazil has the unfortunate privilege of breeding the Manaus variant which may lead to reinfection. Residents of hotspot countries like Brazil have become persona non grata . Unless they have compelling reasons to travel, French expatriates can no longer board a plane to France. As a result of these stringent new regulations, my mid-February flight to Montpellier (France) has been cancelled. To contain the pandemic, my personal freedom is being restricted and my constitutional rights put aside. I have been downgraded to second-class citizen status by both a deadly and elusive virus and a hapless state. I am no libertarian and during a devastating pandemic I believe in the common good. However, in this case, I suspect that th...