Travel restrictions are continuously easing for travelers entering and departing from Canada. On November 8, U.S. also allowed fully vaccinated Canadians for non-essential purpose. Travelers don’t need negative COVID test to enter U.S., but needs one while entering Canada. We believe next step in easing travel restrictions should be removal of negative COVID PCR test as 85% of Canadians are now fully vaccinated.
Multiple renowned identities have endorsed that negative test is illogical and discouraging travelers, which is still negative for tourism industry. Mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens along with Mayor of Niagara Falls, Sarnia, and New York in a press conference on November 8, called upon federal government to remove testing requirement in line with U.S.
Dr. Theresa Tam also said that policy of getting pre-arrival COVID testing is “actively being looked at.” “Provincial governments are also relying on the vaccinations as a protocol to provide healthcare services or attend a mass gathering. Government’s own expert advisory panel on the border also concluded that double vaccinated travelers don’t need a PCR test on arrival,” she says.
National Airlines Council of Canada also tweeted that they are delighted that Dr. Tam is reviewing Canada’s PCR test requirement. Furthermore, they demanded a speedy action on reviewing this.
Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable also called on the federal government to remove the pre-departure PCR test.
“Even if you took a PCR test in the United States after watching the game, every scientist will tell you, it takes days after exposure before COVID presents itself through testing,”
Mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens
“If the science is the science, why are there two different sets of rules on either side of the border.”
Susie Grynol, President of the Hotel Association of Canada
“When the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says ‘if you are fully vaccinated, you can return to most pre-pandemic activities.’ To us, all of us, that includes being able to cross the border without constraints as long as you are fully vaccinated,”
New York Congressman Brian Higgins.