Canadian PM says he has no plans to reopen border while U.S. struggles with COVID
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no plans to open the border with the United States while its neighbor to the south continues to see high COVID-19 rates, according to a Bloomberg story Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Trudeau commented about the status of the U.S.-Canada border closure during a radio appearance on Winnepeg radio station 680 CJOB Wednesday as a guest of the “Mackling, Megarry & McNabb” show, Bloomberg reported.
“We have committed to keeping Canadians safe and we keep extending the border closures because the States is not in a place where we would feel comfortable reopening those borders,” the prime minister said, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S.-Canada border was initially closed to non-essential traffic March 21 in response to the global pandemic in a joint effort by the two countries to slow the spread of coronavirus. The closure, initially scheduled to last a month, has since been extended in monthly increments six times. It is now tentatively scheduled to reopen Oct. 21.
Earlier this month, the two countries announced plans to ease some restrictions and allow more families and loved ones to cross the border for reasons not previously included among the essential or allowable reasons.
“We will continue to make sure that Canadian safety is top of mind when we move forward,” Trudeau said, according to Bloomberg. “We see the cases in the United States and elsewhere around the world, and we need to continue to keep these border controls in place.”
What they’re seeing does not look good for the border to open anytime soon.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard shows the U.S. has had nearly 7.9 million cases and more than 216,000 deaths during the pandemic — or approximately 2,407 cases and 66 deaths per 100,000 residents. Canada, meanwhile, has reported just over 191,000 cases and 9,700 deaths — or approximately 508 cases and 26 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Both countries are seeing the numbers of new cases reported in recent weeks trending upward, as well, according to Johns Hopkins.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard, the province has seen 10,734 total cases during the pandemic and 250 confirmed deaths as of Tuesday, Oct. 13 — an increase of 668 cases and five deaths since Thursday, Oct. 8. With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia is averaging 210.5 cases and 4.9 related deaths per 100,000 residents over the course of the pandemic.
For comparison, the Washington State Department of Health reported 94,775 confirmed cases and 2,211 related deaths on Tuesday — an increase of 2,857 cases and 28 deaths since Thursday. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state is averaging 1,253.7 cases and 29.5 deaths per 100,000 during the pandemic.
