TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday Canada could start allowing fully vaccinated Americans into Canada as of mid-August for non-essential travel and should be in a position to welcome fully vaccinated travelers from all countries by early September. . . .
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The key word here is "could"... or not. Details are set to follow next week when the current closure is set to expire. I'm not holding my breath (or booking my flights just yet).
It seems that Canada has done a better job at the vaccine than the US. According to an article I just read Canada has vaccinated 80 percent with at least one dose vs the US with 65 percent.
I'm not sure Canada has done a better job at the vaccine than the US. The US is prepared to administer the vaccine to anyone over the age of 12 who wants it so we could have a 100% rate if people were to opt for the vaccine. Unfortunately, there are too many people in the US who don't want it for whatever reason and there's no need to get into their reasons here. Citizens in countries all over the world are clamoring for the vaccine but not here. I live in Massachusetts and we have a pretty good rate of vaccination but there are still many holdouts.
Per the BBC news an hour ago:
"As of 16 July, 48.45% of Canadians are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, compared with 48.05% of Americans."
They had a slower start but are making up for lost time. Hopefully more of the US starts improving before too many medical facilities are overrun. Virtually all hospitalizations and deaths are unvaccinated patients. And the ages are coming down too. So sad.
I just heard news that more Canadians have had mixed vaccines and Trudeau is fighting for other countries to accept those people as fully vaccinated rather than partially vaccinated.
The Canadian approach to vaccination is different from the US, but not necessarily better. Canada has a higher percentage with one dose because they set that as a priority, with a four month gap between the first and second doses. See this article for a discussion. Canada took a risk with its non-standard approach which may pay off in the end, or it may not.
Well, my pessimism was apparently overstated. More details about the reopening are emerging today:
So, I'm presuming that Tauck will restart Canadian trips. I'm not sure how they will handle the quarantine plan. This strikes me as somewhat risky, if they restart trips. It could be a real problem if someone on the bus picks up the delta variant.
Has anyone heard about Ontario man who was fined $6,000+ at border under the Quarantine Act b/c he forgot his email password and couldn't access his negative vaccination certificate? Crazy story, but lesson learned is retain a 20th century paper trail. Here's CBC link:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/border-crossing-email-password-ticket-1.6135296