Indeed, but if the travel bans give us a few more days to prepare it's not a bad thing. Maybe the Omicron variant is truly a nothing burger, but if it wasn't, just getting one extra week before it starts spreading more means the hospitals can start flushing non-urgent patients, testing centers can rehire workers to handle the higher load, etc...
To me what's more important is how fast we lift travel restrictions once we know that the situation is ok OR that the variant has spread enough that it would make no differences. If we "punish" South Africa for two months for a variant that only causes mild symptoms then it's an overreaction, if we lift is in 1-3 weeks then it's "better safe than sorry" and can understand the policy.
