Leaky Border: Tourists and Quarantine Cheats Threaten Canada Amid US COVID-19 Surge
For 67 days, tiny Prince Edward Island went without a single new case of COVID-19. That changed earlier this month when Canada’s smallest province, best known as the home of fiction’s Anne of Green Gables, announced a…
For 67 days, tiny Prince Edward Island went without a single new case of COVID-19. That changed earlier this month when Canada’s smallest province, best known as the home of fiction’s Anne of Green Gables, announced a cluster of new cases linked to a foreign student who entered Canada from the United States.
The man, who did not immediately self-isolate upon arrival in Canada as required by law, infected at least one person, who then infected at least four more.
“With tens of thousands of people crossing the border every day, there’s no way to enforce that” they follow the rules, said Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. “It’s a little bit scary.”
As Canada’s COVID-19 infections and deaths moderate, the explosion of new cases in the United States presents a challenge for Canadian authorities who must deal with both unwanted tourists slipping though the border and legitimate travelers who break the strict quarantine laws.
The problem is compounded by a recent jump in crossings. More than 187,000 truck drivers and individuals entered last week from the U.S., a 30% increase over the end of May. https://tmsnrt.rs/3fEiQZ5
“The ice beneath our feet is getting steadily thinner in terms of what we’re allowing and the risk that we’re taking,” Furness said.
CLOSED BUT OPEN
While the border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21, returning Canadians, essential workers and truckers, foreigners coming for family reunification, and even Americans driving to Alaska, are all allowed in.
The law dictates that all but essential workers and truckers must isolate for 14 days, but not everyone is.
Canada’s public health agency has so far contacted 175,723 foreigners to verify their compliance, while the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said police have performed physical verification checks on 1,492 “priority individuals.”
A Florida couple were fined in rural Ontario this week for breaking the quarantine law, while a Minnesota couple were fined last week, also in Ontario. Police have also fined numerous U.S. citizens for stopping to hike in picturesque Banff National Park while en route to Alaska.