Can we open the USA/Canada border yet?

WHAT IS THE RUSH?

Regrettably, As with most matters, I would certainly put the judgement of the Canucks ahead of our own.

@SQUEEKY2

The Rush is a Canadian band from my hometown. ;-)

Until we get this Covid under control there should be no recreational travel at all 0 ,nothing,personally I think commercial goods , drivers should should trade loads at the border a us driver should take the us load from the border down,the Canadian drivers bring the Canadian load from the border up.
That is only my opinion.

I sayhave there be openings to let people in and out.

@SQUEEKY2 – the closed border causes a lot of people a lot of pain. It also damages the economies of both countries. It is also more political than sensical.

Economic damage = dead people.

Covid also = dead people, but there is a line somewhere, isn’t there? Maybe allowing fully vaccinated people through? Or fully vaccinated people with family in Canada? Or create reunification areas families can visit with separate, less onerous requirements? Or use a quota system? Or shorten/modify the quarantine procedures to make them more sensible?

@stanleybmanly – I wouldn’t call Canada’s pitiful vaccine production capacity an example of Canadian good judgement, more like decades of ignorance. By no means do Canadians have a monopoly on ignorance, but you really can’t call one group of sounder mind than another. Ontarians elected Doug Ford, for god sakes.

@Smashley I understand where you are coming from ,but I also said it was just my opinion.
WE are seeing a third wave getting out of hand up here so understand I am not in a hurry to see any out of province people come a frolicing .
That includes other provinces and anyone from the states.

@SQUEEKY2 – hang in there! But seriously, it must be getting exhausting, no? There just isn’t the political will here to create curfews, domestic travel restrictions and enforcement, or enhance police powers. I won’t say it was better here earlier in the pandemic, but it kinda feels like the right policy now. I’d be out of my mind by now if my kids were out of school again and everything was closed. I pity my family in Ottawa who can see Gatineau park from their roof but aren’t allowed to play there.

I think it has to do with 62,000 new cases on 4/21 and 839 deaths. The US doesn’t have COVID-19 under control.

@Tropical_Willie – I think its more about Canada’s spiking trends than the USA’s dropping numbers. The infection rate per capita in Canada, once a tenth of the USA rate, is now higher than it.

Perhaps for fully vaccinated people only.

I’m in Alaska where back and forth travel to/through Canada is pretty much a daily thing, or was. I know people personally who have had to deal with the closing and while frustrated, they dealt with it without screaming about their rights. The US can open it’s border but that doesn’t mean Canada will or even should follow suite. Two different countries, two different sets of needs and conditions.

I was on a zoom with a Canadian yesterday and she said Toronto is currently in some sort of lockdown? I doubt they will open the border if they are still locking down. Canadians can still travel to Canada, a friend of mine just went from Florida to Canada a few weeks ago, she just had to quarantine when she arrived.

@AlaskaTundrea – Well, rights is not what I’m addressing. I respect the right of a sovereign country to enforce its borders (walls are still idiotic). What I’m pressing against is the fear mongering and non-scientific approach that has deeply damaged the relationship between our two countries, in particular, through the inflammation of Canadian xenophobic tendencies. The future will only be saved through international cooperation, and the Canada/USA relationship is one of the lynchpins of global order. In the future, we will need to join or die.

It’s disappointing when people characterize me as an angry an entitled American who just wants others to do what I want. I admit that I’m personally invested in this issue: my daughter has gone half her life without her grandparents, I miss my best friends and I own a business that benefits from Canadian tourism, but I’m far from the only person harmed.

Families and friends have been isolated without recourse for over a year. Communities along the 8891 kilometers of border, north and south, have seen their businesses wither and die and their whole way of life upended. Unlike the rest of Covid restrictions, there has been no slackening, or intelligent rollbacks, or modifications to the damaging policy. It’s just a hard no and a shoulder shrug for “how long?” There are no target goals for reopening, and no advice given to people affected. If you open a business now, will the border be open by Summer? By Winter? By the Summer after that? Uncertainly creates instability creates social harm.

I don’t know what the exact, safest, most economically viable plan is, but I do know that it is a plan. We could use one.

@Brian1946 – love it. I saw them after the SARS pandemic.

@Smashley My B and SIL just spent 4 months in Canada in the city where their grandchildren live. They had to quarantine for two weeks on either side; I’m not sure what testing they had to do. And they only saw the kids outside. So there are some provisions.

@janbb – it is true that some people with Canadian relatives may enter Canada, however the prerequisite testing and two week hotel stay is an impossible burden for many people. I’d also feel pretty iffy leaving a car with American plates anywhere in the country for two weeks, unmonitored.

When compared with the relative ease that “essential” workers can go back and forth, it doesn’t make sense.

Canada has now stopped international entry after passenger’s returning from India and tested when they arrived all had Covid- 19 and variants and arrived in Vancouver
( west coast of Canada) .
Many are dying soon after they arrive as well as large in the thousands in India are dying too.

Many citizens of Canada of India heritage where travelling to India for a Religious Festival and did not adhere to protocols of safe distancing nor masks.

This is the result.

This resulted in massive over admittance’s to there Hospital system in Vancouver and all of B.C. Province..as some had to be sent to other Hospitals of handle the large overflow.

Prime Minister Trudeau may stop ALL international travel into Canada to divert this crises from entering.

Locally here in our Japer Park System we are awaiting the “Rocky Mountain ” Tours a international trip across Canada that had been doing those tours for years.

Now that is up in the air as a result of this crises.

Vaccines do do not prevent the variants that are spreading fast.

@Inspired_2write – “Vaccines do do not prevent the variants that are spreading fast.”

That is not the scientific consensus. Trudeau is obviously deflecting the fact that Canada’s own short-sightedness has caused a much slower vaccine rollout than people anticipated with only 2.13% fully vaccinated to date, leaving the population vulnerable.

On the Indian flight example: wasn’t the quarantine enforced? How did that infected flight end up causing massive over admittance to the hospitals?

@Smashley
Exactly, how did they even get on the flight?
Unless it didn’t show up yet?
Unless India Airlines wanted to rid themselves of more cases?
Which makes one wonder if so , irresponsible and could be reprimanded if not sued?
( remember those were Canadian Citizens returning.
hence a Canadian problem, they surmised?)

@Inspired_2write
No, I mean, if Canada has a two week quarantine for all incoming travelers, plus testing, how did that flight end up causing the spike in cases in BC, since everyone on it was segregated from the populace for two weeks?

Just in:
At least 32 flights from Delhi and two from Pakistan have landed in Canada in the last two weeks carrying dozens of passengers WHO LATER tested positive for COVID-19.

Link:
https://vancouversun.com/news/covid-19-canada-to-suspend-flights-from-india-pakistan-for-30-days

@Smashley
They were awaiting transportation to quarantine. It was then that they tested Positive.

@Inspired_2write – So they tested positive and were quarantined. How did that contribute to the case load currently being seen?

@Smashley
It spread by then.
Airport personnel etc

@Inspired_2write That seems like a systemic failure. Arent there procedures to bring arrivals to their quarantine hotels without the opportunity to infect the population?

The ban on non-essential travel has been extended through May 21. But your question was:
Can we open the USA/Canada border yet?

I believe the resistance is on Canada’s side. I know one dual citizen who owns homes in Windsor and Detroit. He is currently living in Canada. If he comes to the US, he has no issues. But going back requires him to quarantine at home for 10 days or so. And the quarantine is enforced.

@crazyguy – yeah, as evidenced by the Canadian press and the responses I get here, most of the resistance comes from Canada. It probably doesn’t hurt that those with the means have been able the travel to the US the whole time.

@Smashley I am not sure what “means” you are talking about. The guy I am talking about drives across the border, like anybody else could. He has a home to stay in, but anybody else can stay with friends or in a hotel.

@crazyguy – yes, you can pay for a hotel, if you can afford it, or you can stay with friends or family, if they can afford to quarantine with you and they are under 60 or if they have a completely separate place to stay in their house. This is a means, and by no means does every Canadian haven access to it. Nor can every Canadian afford to not work for the quarantine period.

@Smashley My friend is fully vaccinated. So, when he comes to the US, he does not quarantine.

@crazyguy – but he still has to for at least 14 days on the way back to Canada. What are you pushing agaist? The notion that the border closure is somewhat class dependent?

@Smashley In this particular case, I was not pushing for anything or even advocating a philosophy. I am sorry if I offended you in any way. I just answered the OP’s question.