“Clearly a trap exists because Americans have not previously imposed any restrictions on international flights to the U.S.,” Canada’s Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told a news conference on Friday.
“It worries us because the ban is on our land border but not on air travel.”
While the Canada-US border remains closed and all unscrupulous travel is banned until at least February 21, in the 10 months since the border was imposed, tens of thousands of tourists have made prudent travel between the two countries because air travel has not taken place. Yet it is subject to the same restrictions.
Since the United States has not imposed any travel bans on Canada, family members on both sides of the border have been allowed to arrange unusual visits, ranging from sniper Canadian snowbirds to the hot springs of Florida and Arizona for the winter.
From Trudeau to Canadian: Avoid Travel
On Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated his call for Canadians to stay at home and avoid any kind of travel, including domestic and international travel.
Trudeau acknowledged that constitutionally he could not stop Canadians from traveling, but warned that returning to Canada would soon be more difficult.
“The main steps are this: this is not the time to travel internationally or across the country,” Trudeau told a news conference on Friday. “
International air travelers currently entering Canada must show proof of a negative test result for the Covid-19 taken within 72 hours of departure and are also subject to 14 days of mandatory intercourse with violators facing severe financial penalties. There are exceptions for essential workers.
Looking for more action
Canadian officials say they are looking for more steps that will disappoint travel as much as possible and they hope the new agreement with the United States will help.
“We are looking at a number of measures, including more restrictions on international travel, additional tracing measures, additional quarantine measures and enforcement measures to encourage and discourage people from making unnecessary trips,” Blair said Friday.
Officials have also indicated that weekly lockdowns in most of Canada are slowly starting to deal with new daily cases of Covid-19 decline.
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. “This gives us hope that community-based control measures are beginning to take effect,” said Theresa Tame. “But we are still confident that these measures are strong enough and broad enough that we can set a downward trend.”
Photo: Cole Burston / Getty Images
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