Canada relaxed its border rules last Monday. Fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents will no longer have to take the 14-day quarantine when entering the country. They will also not need to do a day eight COVID19 test. They just need to present proof of vaccination along with a negative COVID19 test. This is the first phase in relaxing the Canadian border. However, both Canada and the US are not expected to change their border closure rules until July 21.
Billions in Losses Due to Strict Border Rules
During the start of the pandemic, Canadians can enter the US as long as they have a negative COVID19 test. As for Americans, they were allowed to visit Canada as long as they meet strict guidelines. However, Americans entering Canada must complete a 14-day quarantine.
According to US Travel Association’s estimate, the US loses around $1.5 billion every month because of the border closure. As for Canada, it had 22 million foreign visitors in 2019, 15 million of which are from the US.
“Big Step”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau considered easing their border rules as a “big step” towards re-opening the Canadian border. He said during a news conference in Ontario that “We’re very hopeful that we’re going to see new steps on reopening announced in the coming weeks”. He added that “We’re going to make sure that we’re not seeing a resurgence of COVID19 cases because nobody wants to go back to further restrictions, after having done so much and sacrificed so much to get to this point”.
One of the biggest hesitations by both the US and Canada to open their borders are the variants. Unfortunately, the US missed its target to vaccinate give at least one dose of the COVID vaccine to 70% of their population. It was initially planned to reopen the US border if they meet this target. As for Canadian officials, they want 75% of eligible Canadians to be fully vaccinated before they loosen their border restrictions. As of July 1, 35% of the eligible Canadian population completed their COVID19 vaccine doses.
