Latest border closure extension means more ‘unpredictability, suffering and frustration’
The United States will extend its border closure with Canada to non-essential travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic another month, the White House announced Monday, Sept. 20.
White House Response Coordinator Jeff Zients announced the closure will be extended until Oct. 21, USA Today reported along with several other national news sources.
Homeland Security has yet not made a similar announcement on Twitter.
Zients’ announcement means non-essential travel from Canada will not be permitted for a 19th month since the two countries each decided to close their border in March of 2020.
“Another month brings another border extension,” Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington’s 1st District said in a statement emailed to The Bellingham Herald. “That means more unpredictability, suffering, and frustration for our border communities. It does not follow the science to say Canadians can fly from Vancouver to Seattle but cannot drive from British Columbia to Whatcom County. It is a disservice to families and businesses along the border that vaccinated Americans can travel north to Canada but we have not reciprocated.
“The Biden administration must take immediate steps to reopen the Canada-U.S. border to vaccinated Canadians.”
Both sides extended the closure on a month-by-month basis until Canada began allowing vaccinated Americans to cross for reasons such as tourism and shopping on Aug. 9.
But the U.S. has continued to extend its closing, as Monday’s announcement would indicate a second extension since the Canadian’s eased restrictions.
“This is the wrong decision by the administration — there must at the very least be an exemption for Point Roberts as we work to safely reopen the U.S.-Canada border,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a statement emailed to The Herald. “I appreciate the administration’s science-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic and I firmly believe that the evidence supports a narrow and tailored exception to the administration’s Canadian border closure and a reopening of the Point Roberts port of entry to Canadian travel.
“I have yet to be presented with a compelling explanation outlining why a border exemption for Point Roberts has not yet been provided. I’ve spoken directly with (Homeland Security) Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas about this, with top White House officials, and senior officials at the State Department as well — I will keep pressing the administration on this until we get this matter resolved.”
Taking advantage of border opening?
Though Canadians still are not allowed to cross the border for non-essential reasons, it appears vaccinated Americans are not taking advantage of their opportunity to cross at all that high of a rate.
During the first four weeks that Canada allowed vaccinated Americans to cross, a total of 120,840 foreign nationals entered Canada through land ports of entry in the Pacific region, which includes Whatcom County’s five border crossings from Blaine, Lynden, Sumas and Point Roberts, according to Canadian Border Services Agency data. That’s an average of 4,316 people per day between Aug. 9 and Sept. 5.
While that is nearly triple the 43,508 crossings (1,554 daily average) from the same week in 2020 when Canada wasn’t allowing non-essential border crossings, its only about a quarter of the 473,430 crossings (16,908) from the same week in 2019 before the pandemic.
Change coming?
News of the latest extension comes just one day before the current U.S. restrictions were set to expire on Tuesday, Sept. 21.
Monday’s news of another month of restrictions on the northern border comes on the same day the White House announced it plans to begin opening travel for all vaccinated foreign nationals in early November, according to a McClatchy story.
Under that plan, travelers will need to show they are fully vaccinated before they board international flights bound for the U.S., according to the story. A negative COVID-19 test from within three days of departure also will need to be supplied. Enhanced contract tracing and masking also will be required.
Those requirements resemble what Canada is requiring of U.S. citizens to cross the land border, but restrictions at land ports of entry into the U.S. were not mentioned, USA Today reported.
“This vaccination requirement deploys the best tool we have in our arsenal to keep people safe and prevent the spread of the virus,” Zients said, according to USA Today. “Vaccines continue to show that they’re highly effective, including against the delta variant, and the new system allows us to implement strict protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Help for impacted businesses
Whatcom County’s smaller businesses impacted by the border restrictions will have a chance to receive some financial help from the state in the form of grants.
The Washington State Department of Commerce will launch the new grant program on Monday, Oct. 4.
Businesses must have reported annual revenues of $5 million or less in 2019 to the Department of Revenue and be located in Whatcom, Clallam, Jefferson, San Juan, Island, Skagit, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens or Pend Oreille counties.
Grants will be up to $50,000 and take into account whether the business has received a previous Working Washington grant.
Information and a preview of the application is available now at commercegrants.com. The application process will be open Oct. 4-18.
—Dave Gallagher, dgallagher@bhamherald.com
COVID numbers update
As of Friday, the United States continues to have the highest number of COVID cases in the world with more than 42.1 million confirmed cases and 674,000 related deaths, according to the John Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard. More than 4.2 million cases and 44,00 deaths have come in the past 28 days.
Canada, meanwhile, has had more than 1.5 million cases and 27,000 related deaths, according to the website, including more than 104,000 cases and 652 deaths in the past 28 days.
The U.S. is the third-most populated country in the world with more than 331 million residents, according to worldometers.info, while Canada is No. 39 with more than 37 million residents.
According to ourwordindata.org, Canada has the ninth-highest percentage of its population that is at least partially vaccinated at 75% and 69% are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is 18th and has 53% of its population at least partially vaccinated and 62% fully vaccinated.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard on Friday, the province has seen 177,954 total cases during the pandemic and 1,888 confirmed deaths — an increase of 19,698 cases and 104 deaths since the last U.S. border closure extension was announced Aug. 20. With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia has seen an infection rate of 386 cases and 2.0 deaths per 100,000 residents since Aug. 20.
The Washington State Department of Health, meanwhile, reported 553,326 confirmed cases and 7,201 related deaths on Thursday — an increase of 78,984 cases and 871 deaths since Aug. 20. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state has averaged 1,053 cases and 11.6 deaths per 100,000 residents since Aug. 20.
Washington state reports administering 8.8 million vaccine doses, or approximately 1.2 doses per resident, while British Columbia reports administering 7.6 million doses, or approximately 1.5 per resident. More than 72.7% of British Columbia residents are fully vaccinated, according to the B.C. dashboard, while Washington state reports 56.5% of its residents have completed vaccination.
This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 10:38 AM.
