Despite Canada preparing to admit fully vaccinated Americans starting 09AUG, this week President Biden’s administration made it clear it is not planning to lift existing border restrictions due to the spread of the Delta variant of the virus in the U.S.
Previously, the US government said it planned to keep its border closed until at least 21AUG, but it appears even that date is now unlikely.
Currently, 57.5 per cent of Americans have at least one shot, and just under 50 per cent are fully vaccinated, but vaccine adoption is clustered regionally. Cases of COVID-19 are skyrocketing in areas of the U.S. with low vaccine rates.
(Canada has now overtaken the U.S. in vaccine adoption. Our full vaccination rate sits at 56.3 per cent, and more than 71 per cent of Canada’s population has at least one dose.)
The CDC is once again recommending masks in high-transmission areas of the States, as well as for all children in classrooms.
The crisis around growing transmission rates takes any question of reopening the land border pretty much off the table.
While Dr. Anthony Fauci’s interview with the CBC’s Power and Politics this week indicated that admitting fully vaccinated Canadians was an “active part” of conversations around the border, that seems more theoretical than practical at this point, and more likely - as it was for Canada - a first phase when a land border reopening eventually occurs.
That won’t be anytime soon. As the Toronto Star reports, at this point, “the thinking in U.S. government is no longer about how to return to normal, but how to stave off disaster.”
