Several community leaders with strong ties to the other side of the Canada-US border said that the potential increase in non-essential travel in the coming months is long overdue, but health experts remain cautious.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the country’s governors on Thursday night that for fully vaccinated travelers, non-essential travel from the United States may begin in mid-August.should Coronavirus disease Canada’s vaccination rate continues to remain high and reaches a certain threshold. Trudeau said that fully vaccinated travelers from other countries may begin to enter the country in September.
Although the announcement has not confirmed the reopening of the border, the deadline for restricting travel along the Canada-US border may be extended for the last and last time after it expires on July 21.
When Trudeau made the above remarks, there were expectations about whether the federal government would extend the July 21 deadline for another 30 days or cancel it altogether.
Kelley Lee, an expert in global infectious disease governance and a professor at Simon Fraser University, told Global News that she is relieved that the date may be extended for at least another month.
Although her concerns about the possibility of a sudden influx of passengers in communities near the Canadian border before next week have been lifted-and there may be a new COVID-19 outbreak-Li said she hopes this deadline can be extended further, at least until September.
“We are not closing the border; we are not trying to keep them out,” she said.
Trudeau said that by August, fully vaccinated U.S. travelers may be allowed to enter Canada
“The problem is that we do not reach the level of full vaccination like the United States, and then both countries need to get a higher level of vaccination.”
Lee also pointed out the re-spread of COVID-19 in the United States, which is mainly among people who have not been vaccinated, and the current lack of standardized vaccine passports in both countries.
According to data from COVID-19tracker.ca, currently about 55% of eligible population in Canada (excluding children under 12) have been fully vaccinated.
On the other hand, in the United States, 65% of the eligible population received one dose of the vaccine, while 56% of the population received two injections. Public health experts also pointed out that the country’s vaccination rate is slowing-especially in areas or communities that are hesitant about vaccines.
For Canadians whose businesses or communities rely heavily on tourism or their cross-border neighbors, the Prime Minister’s comments are very much in need-including in the announcement of the first ministerial conference call on Thursday.
Drew Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, said in an interview with Global News on Friday that the news is “long overdue” and the sooner they open the border for fully vaccinated travelers, Both sides are better.
As the July 21 expiration date approaches, officials who reopen the Canada-U.S. border remain silent
Dilkens said: “I think the fact that the border continues to close will definitely have a disproportionate impact on families living in border communities like me.”
Although the news of the upcoming reopening of the border was welcomed by Dilkens, he said that what is needed now is a specific timetable to determine when it will reopen and what the rules will look like.
Dilkens agreed that the next “logical step” would be to allow only fully vaccinated travelers to cross the border, although he said that as time goes on, as the number of vaccinations increases, more and more restrictions should be lifted to allow Businesses and families have flourished and reunited.
“Living here in Windsor is the location of the busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada, and it has a huge impact,” Dickens said of the current non-essential border restrictions.
He said that from a business perspective, the supply chains on both sides of the border are closely integrated, but from a “human perspective”, the closure of the border has had a huge impact on the families of both sides in the past 16 months.
The mayor of Niagara, Ontario, another busy crossing point in Canada, told Global News on Friday that the whole process was very frustrating due to the lack of communication on the reopening plan.
“When a business needs to hire employees and increase inventory – you need to know the plan, and then people can be prepared, because it’s not as easy as turning on a light switch,” Jim Diodati showed at the Scott Thompson show on Friday Said.
He said he and other border mayors are scheduled to meet with Public Safety Secretary Bill Blair on Monday. Such plans are still under review, but Canadians may receive more details next week.
Li, who has been working with a team of international researchers studying cross-border measures during the pandemic, said that she would very much like to see the implementation of three specific restrictions to safely alleviate the country’s border reopening.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the United States. Will this affect the reopening of Canada’s borders?
The first is to require any exempt or basic travelers to be vaccinated and tested, the second is to test all fully vaccinated travelers up to two times after they arrive in Canada, and the last is to implement strong and rapid contacts New breakthrough infections in the form of tracking.
According to her, these “solutions” contained in an open letter to the federal government and signed by a handful of prominent public health professionals will help buffer new outbreaks — especially for variants — and enable travel Restrictions returned to normal.
“So it is a matter of time. I think Americans should vaccinate themselves,” Li said.
“We really want to see the Americans again.”
View link »
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
