BLAINE, Wash. – It’s official.
Fully vaccinated Canadians making quick trips to the U.S. will soon no longer have to get an expensive COVID test to return home.
Health Canada says the new rule takes effect on November 30th and only applies to Canadian citizens or legal residents who cross the border for 72 hours or less.
Vaccinated citizens of the U.S. or other countries and Canadians staying here longer will still have to show proof of a negative molecular COVID-19 test to enter Canada.
Business leaders in communities that rely heavily on short-term Canadian visitors have been pleading with Canada to drop the requirement.
Brian Calder, who heads the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce, applauds the move but says most of the businesses in the isolated exclave have suffered.
“We will need a three-stage ladder to climb out of the economic sinkhole that this lockdown for 19 months has created,” says Calder.
He hopes that they won’t be forgotten and that political leaders will craft legislation to protect the economies of his community and others like it during future emergencies.
U.S. citizens looking to cross the border into Canada should apply using the ArriveCAN app.