The U.S.-Canada border has been closed since March 21—that is to say, non-essential travel has not been allowed. Essential travel, which has never halted, includes freight, people with jobs across the usually extremely open border, and more needed services such as fire and EMS.
The U.S.-Canada border is the longest border between two countries in the world, and in ordinary times, more than 200,000 people cross it every day. Among those border crossings are thousands of trucks bringing food into Canada from the United States, or from Mexico and South America via the United States.
“We will continue to take the measures necessary to keep Canadians safe while ensuring the continued flow of our essential supply chains on which so many Canadians depend,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justrin Trudeau in an April 18 statement, when he announced that the closure would be extended for a second month.
On May 19, Trudeau announced another extension, keeping border activity limited until at least June 21.
“It was the right thing to further extend by 30 days our closure of the Canada-U.S. border to travelers other than essential services and goods, but we will continue to watch carefully what’s happening elsewhere in the world and around us as we make decisions on next steps,” said Trudeau from the steps of his Ottawa home, where he has been giving press conferences since his wife tested positive for COVID-19 in March.
“Casual travel across our land borders is not yet safe and may actually lead to greater community transmission of COVID-19, which is something no one wants to see happen, said Drew Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, in an interview with CNN.
Keeping the U.S.-Canada border closed is Canada’s strongest weapon in limiting new contagion centers from popping up. As of May 19, Canada has 79,000 cases, confirmed by extensive population testing, or approximately two tenths of one percent of their population. By comparison, the United States has 1.56 million infected confirmed (0.4 percent of population) and has been struggling to test even a tiny fraction of the population.
Photo: The U.S. and Canadian flags flutter together on top of the Peace Arch border crossing between British Columbia and Washington State. Credit: Shutterstock