The U.S.-Canada border closure for COVID expires Saturday — will it actually reopen?
The border closure to non-essential travel between the U.S. and Canada is set to expire on Saturday, Nov. 21, but Canadian media is reporting it will likely be extended once again until almost Christmas.
According to a CTV News story posted Wednesday, Nov. 18, Canadian sources say that the border closure measures are set to be renewed through Dec. 21.
An anonymous source told The Toronto Star that the closure would be rolled over another 30 days, according to another story published Wednesday.
The two countries first agreed to close the border to non-essential travel beginning March 21, and have extended that restriction on a month-by-month basis. An extension into December as Canadian media reported would mark the eighth such extension.
The closure was last extended Oct. 19 and is set to expire Saturday. Tourists and cross-border travel is currently prohibited, while commerce, trade, and vital health workers are among those allowed to cross between the two countries.
Last 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.
CTV reported Wednesday that Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s office did not confirm that the border closure extension has been agreed to but said the decision about whether to extend or reopen the border “will be made in Canada, with the best interest of Canadians as our top priority.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canadian health officials also have said throughout the pandemic that Canada will not look to reopen the border until the U.S. can get get the spread of coronavirus under control.
According to another CTV News story Wednesday, more than 6.5 million travelers have entered into Canada, according to figures from the Canada Border Services Agency. Of those, 81% (approximately 5.3 million) were deemed essential travelers and, therefore, did not need to follow the country’s mandatory 14-day quarantine.
COVID numbers update
Unfortunately, the numbers on both sides of the border do not signal a reopening coming anytime soon, as both the U.S. and Canada are seeing big increases during the fall surge.
As of Wednesday morning, the United States was hardest hit in the world during the pandemic with more than 11.4 million confirmed cases and 249,000 related deaths, according to the John Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard.
Canada, meanwhile, was 31st overall with 309,877 cases and 11,136 related deaths, but a number of provinces, including British Columbia, have repeatedly set and broken daily caseload records in recent weeks.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard, the province has seen 23,661 total cases during the pandemic and 251 confirmed deaths as of Tuesday, Nov. 17 — an increase of 12,472 cases and 466 deaths since Oct. 18. 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 6,589 — an increase of 5,076 cases since Oct. 18.
More than half of the total cases in the province (14,659) are in the Frasier Health Authority, which borders Whatcom County. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority accounts for 6,869 cases.
With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia has seen an infection rate of 244.5 cases and 9.1 deaths per 100,000 residents since Oct. 18.
The Washington State Department of Health, meanwhile, reported 134,121 confirmed cases and 2,571 related deaths on Tuesday — an increase of 35,920 cases and 332 deaths since Oct. 18. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state has averaged 478.9 cases and 4.4 deaths per 100,000 residents over the past month.
Economic impact
Whatcom County is certainly feeling the economic impact of the border closure, which now prepares to enter its eighth month.
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 when the border is open, according to information Director Laurie Trautman emailed to The Bellingham Herald for an earlier story.
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%.
Essential travel between the two countries is still allowed, though, and that includes transportation of freight.
According to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics published Sept. 23, $91 billion in transborder freight was transported between the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico in July — that was up 10.9% from June and 62.2% from May 2020, but still down 11.2% from July 2019.
Trucks hauled $26.2 billion worth of freight between the U.S. and Canada in July, according to the transportation statistics — up 3.2% from June but down 4.5% from July 2019. Trains hauled another $6.4 billion between the U.S. and Canada — up 12.4% from June but down 17.6% from a year earlier.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 11:45 AM.
