US – Canada border reopening a no-go

With the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations accelerating in Canada, the argument for keeping the border closed is getting weaker and weaker. The Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at the University of Western Washington, Laurie Trautman, said she expects the border might reopen before US Labor Day, which is September 6, 2021. Other experts are predicting optimistically perhaps late July, and more conservatively, Thanksgiving in late November.

Right now, public health officials are saying it is safe for people that have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to go without masks and to socialize without social distancing. That being the case, there should be no reason why vaccinated people should not be allowed to cross the border.

The hurdle appears to be Canada’s relatively low vaccination rate. In the US, 43.85 percent of its citizens have been fully vaccinated, while in Canada, the figure was just 12.22 percent according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

This would be the second summer that the land border has been closed to leisure travelers. While Canadians have been able to fly into the US, American citizens do not have that same privilege to fly into Canada.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz, eTN editor

Linda Hohnholz, eTN editor

Linda Hohnholz has been writing and editing articles since the start of her working career. She has applied this innate passion to such places as Hawaii Pacific University, Chaminade University, the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center, and now TravelNewsGroup.

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