U.S. border with B.C. to stay closed
Officials anticipate travel restriction to remain in place past one-month extension
The U.S.-Canada border in B.C. will likely stay closed to non-essential travel beyond the one-month extension agreed to Tuesday by the federal governments, says Health Minister Adrian Dix.
Dix said the comparatively worse COVID-19 situation in the U.S. meant reopening the border to travellers was risky.
He expected the border to remain closed for significantly longer than a month, and said U.S. states were not working together as well as Canadian provinces.
“Alberta is enacting many of the measures we are,” Dix said. “They’re working with us closely every day to fight the spread of COVID-19 in our country and in our province. We know exactly what they’re doing. … I think it’s fair to say that that is not the case in the United States.”
The U.S. accounts for 42 per cent of the world’s active COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of more than 91,000.
“The situation is much less clear there,” Dix said. “I’m not convinced there’s a chance that it will clear sufficiently in the next month to change at least in my mind whether we should open the border.”
Dix said B.C. Premier John Horgan was in regular contact with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, while the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has weekly meetings with state health officers from
Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Henry said she would recommend allowing cross-border family reunions, subject to a two-week quarantine for border crossers.
B.C. has 325 active COVID19 cases, with two new cases and three deaths reported between noon Monday and noon Tuesday. Henry said 45 people were in hospital, including 12 in intensive care.
The deaths were in longterm care homes, including one person from the Langley Lodge outbreak that has left eight dead with 42 active cases.
A total of 146 people have died from COVID-19 in B.C. in the past 70 days, mostly in long-term care homes. There have been 5,912 deaths in Canada. Henry said there were active outbreaks in 14 longterm and assisted-living homes — and five in hospital acute care settings. Dix called Tuesday’s new case number “positive news.” He said the Health Ministry’s essential-visits policy had been amended to allow someone designated by a person with disabilities to enter a hospital or other health facility and provide support. That includes emotional support, help with decision-making and communications assistance for people with hearing, visual, speech, cognitive, intellectual or memory impairments. Henry said people with lung disease who can’t wear a mask should not take public transit. She said masks were useful on transit, in small spaces with other people or in close contact with someone.