People have been expecting it, but it was made official this morning.  The border between Canada and the U.S. will remain closed through July 21st.

The announcement came from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this morning according to WIVB.  The border between the states and Canada will remain closed to non-essential traffic at least until July 21st.

Trudeau said “This is a decision that will protect people on both side of the border as we continue to fight COVID-19."

People who will be allowed to cross will be immediate family members of Canadians, but must quarantine for 14 days, Americans who are returning to the U.S. and Canadians who are returning to Canada, and Essential Traffic.

But what is considered "Essential Traffic?"  According to the department of homeland security, those considered essential are as follows:

  • Individuals traveling for medical purposes
  • Individuals traveling to attend educational institutions
  • Individuals traveling to work in the United States
  • Individuals traveling for emergency response and public health purposes
  • Individuals engaged in lawful cross-border trade
  • Individuals engaged in official government travel or diplomatic travel
  • Members of U.S. Armed Forces, and the spouses and children of members of the U.S. Armed Forces, returning to the United States
  • Individuals engaged in military-related travel or operations

To sum it up, travel that is for the purpose of tourism or recreation would be considered non-essential.

As of March 21, both the border into Canada and the border into Mexico were closed to non-essential travel to help stop or slow the spread of coronavirus between the three countries.  The measure was extended by all of the countries on April 20th for another 30 days and now will be extended for another 30 days as of June 16th.

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