It’s official: Canada announces extending border closure with U.S. a sixth time
Canadian Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair tweeted that the U.S.-Canadian border will remain closed to non-essential travel until Oct. 21 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are extending non-essential travel restrictions with the United States until Oct. 21, 2020,” Blair’s Friday, Sept. 18, tweet read. “We will continue to base our decisions on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe.”
Though Blair’s tweet didn’t say it Canadian news agencies, including CIC News, are speculating that the border will not reopen until the end of the year.
The border between the two countries has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21 in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19 between the neighbors. The closure, initially set to last a month, has been extended six times.
Before Friday’s announcement by Blair, the closure was set to expire on Monday, Sept. 21.
News that the border is only currently scheduled to be closed until the end of October is actually not as bad as what Reuters Canada reported Tuesday, Sept. 15, when it said Canadian officials were pushing to continue the restrictions until Thanksgiving.
The story also said that Canadian officials showed little interest in relaxing some of the restrictions currently in place anytime soon in spite of suggestions to do so from their American counterparts.
Stories coming out of Canada suggesting many north of the border are in favor of keeping the border closed while the U.S. continues to struggle with getting new COVID-19 cases and related deaths under control.
Research Co. published results of a poll conducted Sept. 1 that found that 90% of 1,000 Canadians asked would like to see the border remained closed to non-essential travel.
Last week, CTV reported that a group of Canadian mayors from cities located near the border called for the federal government to continue prohibiting non-essential travel between the two countries.
Economic impact
Despite trade and commerce being allowed during the border closing, both countries’ economies rely heavily on one another, and that is definitely seen here in Whatcom County.
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 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.
B.C. update
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard, the province has seen 7,663 total cases during the pandemic and 220 confirmed deaths as of Thursday, Sept. 17. It also shows that the number of daily cases has dramatically increased since mid-August and the total number of active cases in the province is 1,705.
More than half of the total cases (3,937) are in the Frasier Health Authority, which borders Whatcom County. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority accounts for 2,714 cases.
With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia is averaging 150.3 cases and 4.3 related deaths per 100,000 residents.
For comparison, the Washington State Department of Health reported 81,198 confirmed cases and 2,031 related deaths on Thursday. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state is averaging 1,082.6 cases and 27.1 deaths per 100,000.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 1:30 PM.
