U.S.-Canada Border Staying Closed Due To COVID (And Canada’s Warnings)

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After a few days of hearing what they “planned” to do, it’s been confirmed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the border between the United States and Canada will remain closed due to continued high numbers of cases of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Closed since March 21, that was extended in April, May and June.

“Once again, Canada and the United States have agreed to extend the current border measures by one month until August 21, and we’re going to keep working closely with our American neighbors to keep people safe on both sides of the border,” Trudeau said on July 16th, as reported by CTV News.

Some U.S. politicians were apparently pushing for measures to be relaxed, but Canadian officials would have no part of it, due to the U.S.’s vast increase in cases in nearly all states. In fact, the chief medical officer in the province of British Columbia said there was “no chance” of non-essential travel with the U.S. this summer, due to how widespread the virus was here. Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, a Canadian infection disease doctor said, “It absolutely terrifies me to think of the prospect of any sort of easing of restrictions that could allow greater travel between Canada and the United States.” Even Trudeau, who is usually tight-lipped about the efforts of their neighbors to the south, suggested, in the understatement of the year, that Canada had handled the pandemic better than the United States has.

Gee, ya think?

Oh, and not that it matters politically, but 89% of Canadians don’t want the border open yet, either.

Meanwhile, along with the loophole that’s available to some travelers, there are daily flights to/from and within Canada (you can still enter the country for “essential reasons”). Unfortunately, there are sometimes people who are positive for the virus who fly on these flights. More often than not, it’s people who flew and then found out however long afterward that they were positive.

The Canadian government now has a website that warns its citizens if they were potentially exposed to someone positive on a flight, cruise or train. They receive the information from a variety of sources, including provincial, territorial and international health authorities, as well as public websites.

Of course, if you’re flying into Canada from another country, you have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival anyway but at least with their warning system, you know to be on the lookout for symptoms. But if it’s a domestic flight (or train ride or cruise), it’s super helpful (albeit somewhat anxiety-provoking) to know that you may have been exposed. Click here to check it out.

It would be lovely if the U.S. had a system like that set up but I think something like that is beyond our reach at the moment. Maybe next year.

*** Feature Photo: John Hopkins

#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands #wearamask

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary