Advertisement

Canada-U.S. border restrictions will remain in place until July 21, still 'holes' in the system, expert says

Canada-U.S. border restrictions will remain in place until July 21, still 'holes' in the system, expert says

The federal government announced Friday that Canada-U.S. border restrictions on non-essential travel will remain in place until July 21.

"In coordination with the U.S., we are extending restrictions on non-essential international travel and with the United States until July 21st, 2021," a tweet from Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness reads.

While the restrictions will remain in place, Blair also confirmed that on Monday, the federal government will share more details on future plans for fully vaccinated Canadians permanent residents who wish to travel.

Last week, Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu, said the federal government is looking to loosen border restrictions, then teasing that some changes may come into place in early July, largely focused on the hotel quarantine measure.

"What is currently being considered as the first step in this approach is to allow fully vaccinated individuals currently permitted to enter Canada to do so without the requirement to stay in government-authorized accommodations," Hajdu said.

"Travellers would have to be fully vaccinated 14 days or more prior to their arrival and they will still be required to have a negative pre-departure PCR test result, and required to be tested upon arrival."

While jet setters continue to wait for the anticipated return to travel, as vaccines continue to be administered domestically and internationally, some border management experts continue to call out the "holes" in Canada's approach.

"We have to address all these holes in our system, which actually don't allow us to manage the risk from travel very effectively now, even before we open the border," Dr. Kelley Lee, professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada Research Chair in global health governance, leading the Pandemics and Borders Project, told Yahoo Canada.

On the U.S. front in particular, some Canadians who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have expressed concerns after it was revealed that only individuals who received FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson) would be able to see the Broadway show Springsteen on Broadway, "at the direction of New York State."