Reopening The Canada-US Border Is 'A Long, Long, Long Way Away'

Don’t expect to visit the United States any time soon. That’s the message coming from one top Canadian doctor. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says it would take “something miraculous” to reopen the Canada-U.S. border, and that crossing between countries is probably “a long, long, long way away.”

While the COVID-19 situation in Canada continues to improve, the same can’t be said for our neighbours across the border.

"They're having over 50,000 new cases per day in the country, and on top of that, it doesn't appear like they are getting this epidemic under control," explained Dr. Isaac Bogoch, during an interview on CBC's The Current.

For this reason, Bogoch says the border between Canada and the States should remain closed until 2021, unless “something miraculous” happens.

"I can't think off the top of my head about what a number or a metric would look like, but I can tell you that it is going to be a long, long, long way away," the physician and researcher explained.

Canada has "to be very, very careful about travellers," Bogoch added, "especially with travellers coming from high-burden areas, namely the United States." 

On June 16, Trudeau confirmed that the border closure was being pushed back once again, and that it would remain closed to all non-essential travel until July 21, 2020.

Since then, the COVID-19 situation in the U.S. has continued to worsen, with the state of Florida alone totalling more cases than the whole of Canada.

Describing the situation across the border as "reckless" and "hog wild," Ontario Premier Doug Ford has called on the federal government to extend the travel ban even further.

While the border remains closed, some Americans have managed to enter Canada by using loopholes in the system.

One U.S. family managed to take a vacation in B.C., after telling border patrol officers that they were heading “home” to Alaska.

Another American couple were fined $1,000 each after they failed to quarantine upon arrival in Ontario.

In P.E.I., a U.S.-originated traveller was linked to four new cases of COVID-19 this week, breaking a two-month streak without new cases.

"I'm not a betting guy, but if pushed I'd say that the vaccine is going to get here before the U.S. has their epidemic under control," Dr. Bogoch said.

At this time, the federal government has not revealed any plans to extend the border closure past July 21.