Mayors of Canadian and U.S. border cities are pushing the Canadian government to jettison COVID testing requirements it says are both overly expensive and unnecessary. Mayors from the likes of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Windsor, Sarnia, and Niagara Falls, New York, as well as upstate New York Congressman Brian Higgins, gathered for a virtual press event on Monday to denounce the current rules implemented by the Trudeau government in Ottawa. In a tidy symbolic note, the event was held just hours after the U.S. government opened its land borders to fully vaccinated residents of Canada and Mexico, as well as opening Read more
PCR tests
Test requirements for vaccinated travellers entering Canada need to be re-examined, particularly for short trips, says the country’s top doctor. On Friday the Canadian Border Services Agency reiterated the testing requirements for vaccinated travellers entering Canada in advance of the border with the United States reopening next week. But that policy is being “actively looked at,” said chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam in a Canadian Press story posted on CP24 today. “I do think that all this needs to be re-examined, as we are doing with all of the border measures moving ahead,” Tam said in a story Read more
Canadian government testing rules are too expensive for families and are simply “irrational,” critics suggest. The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, speaking on behalf of families and the business community across Canada, are asking the Trudeau government to remove “unnecessary and non-science-based obstacles to international travel,” such as the pre-departure PCR test for fully vaccinated travellers, which it says disproportionately impact average Canadian families. The Roundtable also is calling on the government to amend the discriminatory child policy for travelling minors. For the average Canadian family, travel is becoming increasingly difficult. The burdensome cost of a PCR test can add Read more
Great news for Canadians who love Hawaii. The state of Hawaii will welcome international travelers under the new federal requirements starting next Monday, Nov. 8. Direct International Travel to Hawaii NON-U.S. citizens traveling directly to Hawaii from an international destination must present BOTH a vaccination records AND a negative COVID-19 test result (NAAT or antigen) within three days of boarding a flight to the United States. U.S. citizens flying directly to Hawaii from an international destination have two options: Provide proof of vaccination OR Provide proof of negative COVID-19 test result within one day of boarding flight to U.S. There Read more
PCR testing requirements make cross-border travel too complicated and costly as Canadians consider travelling south of the border, Canadian travel groups and Canadian seniors are saying. Thirty-seven percent of Canadians plan to visit the United States as their first trip outside of Canada, according to a survey conducted by the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada. Canadians planning on traveling to the U.S. need to understand that they require different kinds of negative COVID-19 test results to enter the U.S. and return to Canada. THIA recommends that consistent and convenient testing requirement be adopted to support Canadian travellers. The United Read more
