Expensive COVID Test Deterrent to Canada-US Border Crossing

As the United States has finally opened its land border with fully vaccinated Canadians, family and friends on both sides of the border are able to reunite for the first time since the land border was closed last year.

This is a major boost to the travel industry decimated by the pandemic. However, Canada’s testing requirement stands as a major roadblock to restoring cross-border traffic to pre-pandemic levels.

Individuals entering Canada must be fully vaccinated and show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before crossing the border. Meanwhile, the US only requires Canadian travellers to show proof of full vaccination.

The tests are to be taken at the traveller’s expense, and while the costs of PCR tests vary, they often carry a price tag of more than $100.

*Tourists in Niagara Falls*
Same-day or weekend trips between Canada and the US were popular before the pandemic.

Canada-US Border Crossing

Same-day or weekend trips between Canada and the US to shop and meet family and friends have been popular before the pandemic.

Hundreds of thousands of Canadian typically retirees, known as “snowbirds”, flock to the United States each year for the winter, often staying in RV resorts and mobile-home parks with swimming pools, golf courses, and other amenities.

However, the significant cost required to take a COVID test is putting off both short and long time travellers causing frustration on both sides of the border.

Many people consider the additional fee to take the COVID test isn’t worth the journey and financially not viable. The burden of financial loss falls heavily on the communities on both sides, which have long relied on the back and forth trade between the two countries.

Calls to Drop PCR Rule

On 8 November, several mayors and public officials of border communities in Canada and the US held a virtual press conference to implore the Canadian government to drop the mandatory PCR test rule for those returning to Canada.

The leaders cited several reasons the mandatory PCR tests should be scrapped, including preventing more needed travel and delaying family reunification.

Windsor, Ontario Mayor Drew Dilkens said the requirements were a “hard-stop barrier for families to reunite except [the] wealthiest of Canadians.”

“And that is unfair,” he added.

Niagara Mayor Jim Diodati said in order to make the border “truly” open, the government needs to remove the “senseless PCR test, the molecular test,” adding that it “does nothing to make things safer.”

New York Congressman Brian Higgins called the rule a “redundant, unnecessary testing requirement.”

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