Some experts are criticizing the White House for putting a travel ban in place amid the omicron variant.

They say omicron might be here now anyway.

A move like this, could actually just punish countries like South Africa.

"These kinds of restrictions aren't going to reduce introductions, they could buy us perhaps a couple of weeks. But we didn't need to close off travel and unfortunately we are punishing South Africa by doing the right thing," says former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

Many people have praised South Africa for quickly identifying and reporting the new variant to world health officials.