Leaking border: tourists and quarantine cheats threaten Canada amid U.S. COVID-19 surge.

OTTAWA / VANCOUVER (Reuters) – For 67 days, little Prince Edward Island was without a single new case of COVID-19. That changed earlier this month when Canada’s smallest province, better known as the fictional house of Anne of Green Gables, announced a group of new cases linked to a foreign student who entered Canada from the United States.

The man, who did not immediately isolate himself 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 is no way to enforce that,” the rules follow, said Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. “It gives a little 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 to deal with unwanted tourists escaping across the border and legitimate travelers. that violate strict quarantine laws.

The problem is compounded by a recent jump at junctions. More than 187,000 truckers and individuals entered last week from the United States, a 30% increase in late May. tmsnrt.rs/3fEiQZ5

“The ice under our feet is getting thinner and thinner in terms of what we’re allowing and the risk we’re taking,” Furness said.

CLOSED BUT OPEN

While the border has been closed to nonessential travel since March 21, all returning Canadians, essential workers and truckers, foreigners coming for family reunification, and even Americans driving to Alaska can enter.

The law dictates that all but essential workers and truckers must isolate themselves for 14 days, but not all are.

So far, the Canadian public health agency has contacted 175,723 foreigners to verify compliance, while the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that the police have carried out physical checks on 1,492 “priority individuals.”

A Florida couple was fined in rural Ontario this week for violating the quarantine law, while a Minnesota couple was fined last week, also in Ontario. Police have also fined numerous American citizens for stopping to walk in scenic Banff National Park on their way to Alaska.

Canadians have also faced scrutiny. Three Irving Oil executives were granted an exemption in June to travel to the United States and not quarantine upon their return. After the public reaction, the local health authority backed down and the men were isolated.

Public opinion in Canada is strongly in favor of border restrictions, with 81% of Canadians surveyed saying they want the border to remain closed. The United States reported a record 77,000 new COVID-19 infections Thursday.

Despite the increase, the Canadian government is under pressure from a group of 29 US lawmakers who want a phased plan for the reopening, and by advocates of family reunification who say it is unfair for married people to cross the border to join their spouses while they are dating or not. -cohabiting domestic couples of Canadians cannot.

“We are not asking for open borders, we are just asking to be together,” said David Poon, who heads a Facebook group that advocates reuniting couples separated by the border closure.

TOURISM PAIN

Canada’s most iconic tourist cities are feeling the pinch. The unemployment rate in Banff, a resort city in Canada’s flagship national park, has risen to an alarming 80% as COVID-19 has paralyzed the hotel sector, said Leslie Bruce, executive director of Banff and Lake Louise Tourism.

Since the border restrictions were imposed, more than 10,000 U.S. citizens have been rejected because they wanted to enter for tourism, shopping, or other non-essential reasons, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

At Whistler, a British Columbia mountain resort, where American tourists typically account for 25% of all summer visitors, hotel occupancy fell to “almost zero” from mid-March to late June, Barrett Fisher said, President and CEO of Tourism Whistler. .

“The United States is an important tourism market for Whistler, but the safety of all of our communities is first and foremost,” he said.