Canada Eases Covid-19 Restrictions At U.S. Border - NBC News

[Rhiannon12866]

The U.S.-Canadian border is set to reopen after a 16-month closure, meaning fully vaccinated Canadians will no longer have to quarantine after traveling from the U.S. NBC News’ Shaq Brewster explains how the closure impacted Americans living near the border and what restrictions are still in place. Aired on 07/05/2021.

[George II]

1. I was looking forward to this happening. I'll look more into this but are Americans now permitted...

....to cross into Canada without a 14-day quarantine?

Edit: I just checked, unless their website hasn't been updated yet, this applies only to Canadians who want to travel to the US. As an American*, I still can't enter Canada to visit family in Toronto.

*technically I have dual citizenship, but I never formalized it with documentation.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Last I knew, exemptions can be made for fully vaccinated travelers starting July 5th

But I think you still need to apply.

Find out if you can enter Canada
https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/wizard-start

[George II]

4. That's the site I use. My relatives are cousins, aunts, and uncles, not considered "immediate"....

...so I still don't qualify.

The way things are going, though, hopefully by the end of the summer it will loosen up more.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. I'm in Northeastern NY, just south of Lake George

And we always see crowds of tourists in the summer, including Canadians. Most license plates I see are Ontario or Quebec. But we haven't seen any Canadians for over a year - and after what I saw today, the packed crowds of people when I drove down the main road on my way home, I sure wouldn't want to join that throng. No masks or distancing anywhere, it's summer tourist season like it used to be before the pandemic. Last year everything was closed, this year they're opening up everything like always.

[George II]

6. All this sudden loosening of restrictions everywhere has made me nervous. I still wear a mask....

...where ever I go except the few times we've been to restaurants, sitting away from others. But I wear it going in and when I leave our table.

I'm watching the hockey game tonight, and there are a couple of thousand people packed outside the arena in Montreal, ALL without masks. That really is scary.

I sure hope things don't explode like they did last summer.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. That was also my thought when I saw the crowds packing the sidewalks up north

There's a long time popular ice cream place that's open in the summer which closed down last year after a Covid outbreak there. But today the lines in front of the numerous windows were just solid people, tightly packed all the way out to the road. And of course there were no masks, they're getting ice cream! This county is at 63% vaccinated, not great, but there are tourists here from numerous states, stopped at a light behind a car from Florida! I'm really afraid of what the repercussions of just this long weekend will be - and it's just the start of tourist season here.

[SheltieLover]

3. K&R!

[Bobstandard]

8. This is only for Canadians

This is only for Canadians crossing into Canada.

Canadians have been able to cross into the USA with a recent Civid test for months. Their problem was that to get back into Canada they had to quarantine, in some cases at their own expense in ‘quarantine hospitals’. Now they can go in both directions with evidence of vaccines snd tests

But not citizens of the USA.

We could use a little reciprocity here. Call your Senator and Representative. (Unless they’re Republicans, of course. They’ll just put you on a list for fundraising and, if they know you’re a Dem, take the other side).

[Rhiannon12866]

9. I have seen no Canadian license plates here for over a year

We get a lot of tourists here in Northern New York and I've seen cars from states all over the country, but none from Canada. And my senators are Schumer and Gillibrand, I'm guessing that Leader Schumer has his hands full these days. As for my Rep, she's a lost cause - Elise Stefanik, need I say more?

And last summer, we had a quarantine here. Anyone from out of state was supposed to quarantine, but I didn't notice much difference. And this was true for New York residents as well. If we went for an appointment at a doctor or dentist, the first question we were asked was if we had left New York.