U.S. and Canada considering extending coronavirus border closure until late July
Despite Canada’s move to ease border restrictions and allow immediate family members to enter the country earlier this week, Canada and the United States are set to extend their border closure to non-essential traffic until late July due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Reuters reported the news in a story Tuesday, June 9, citing three unnamed Canadian and American sources familiar with the government’s negotiations.
Restrictions were first announced on March 18 and were extended in April and then again May 19, and currently are scheduled to be lifted June 21.
Though no official decision has been taken yet, Reuters reported that a further extension into late July is likely.
Meanwhile, one Whatcom County community has started an online petition asking that border restrictions be lifted for them.
Point Roberts resident John Beals, who describes himself as a retired computer engineer, started a change.org petition in late May requesting the list of “essential reasons to cross the border” during the COVID-19 crisis be expanded for residents on the southern tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula that is part of Whatcom County.
“At this time, there are no known cases of COVID-19 in any of the (approximately) 1,314 full-time residents, and over 300 people have been tested,” Beals wrote in his petition. “We request a special dispensation to traverse the 26 miles of Canadian roads to get to Blaine, Washington, and the U.S. Mainland, and back, without stopping in Canada, which creates virtually no health risk to Canadians.”
Without that dispensation, Beals wrote, the only other option for Point Roberts residents is to travel by air, which costs $135 each way, or by boat.
Residents cannot currently get to dealer-based or specialty vehicle maintenance or tire repair shops, tend to second homes on the mainland or buy groceries or household goods not available in Point Roberts, Beals wrote. They also can’t apply for employment on the mainland or receive healthcare for their pets.
As of Wednesday, June 10, the petition, which has a goal of 2,500, has been signed 1,818 times.
The Western Washington University Border Policy Research Institute has found that Canadians comprise approximately 75% of cross-border travelers to and from Whatcom County, depending on the exchange rate, according to information Associate Director Laurie Trautman emailed to The Bellingham Herald. In 2018, that would have represented approximately 10.5 million southbound Canadian travelers through the Blaine, Lynden, Sumas and Point Roberts points of entry.
Those Canadians represent a large portion of consumers in Whatcom County — anywhere from 2% to 46% of the weekend customer base Whatcom County retailers see, Trautman reported, adding that the average is about 17%.
As of Wednesday, the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control was reporting that the province has had 2,669 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 908 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region of the province, 1,370 in the Fraser Health region and 195 in the Interior Health region. The province is also reporting 2,319 residents have recovered from coronavirus, while 167 deaths are related to the respiratory illness.
As of Tuesday, the Washington State Department of Health reported 24,354 confirmed coronavirus cases, which have been linked to 1,176 deaths. As of Wednesday afternoon the U.S. has had nearly 2 million cases and 112,726 deaths — most in the world — according Johns Hopkins University data.
A recent study by Angus Reid Institute, which advertises itself as “Canada’s non-profit foundation committed to independent research,” found most Canadians think June 21 is too soon — way too soon.
Less than one-in-five Canadians polled (19%) said the border should open when the current deadline expires, Angus Reid reported. Most (42%) said September would be a good target to re-open the border to non-essential traffic, while more than a quarter of those polled (26%) said the countries should wait until 2021.
And if the border does open June 21?
Sixty percent of Canadians who live close to the border said they definitely would not cross into the U.S. if the border were to open June 21, Angus Reid reported, and another 24% said they probably wouldn’t take a day trip south of the border this summer.
