Tuesday July 14, 2020 ~ BC & NATIONAL
by Mary Brooke, editor ~ West Shore Voice News
Today the continued closure of the Canada-USA border was announced as a measure against the spread of COVID-19 between the two countries. The extension is now in effect to August 21.
Essential goods and services can still be transported across the border. Casual visitors and tourists are not to come across the border either way. Anyone who does come into BC for work (or Canadians returning home from abroad) is required to immediately follow the 14-day quarantine order.
The extension comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone yesterday about a range of issues that included the border closure. Trudeau said at his July 13 press conference: “Every month, we have been able to extend the border closures to all but essential goods and services and those discussions are ongoing.”
Recent polling suggests that more than 80% of Canadians favour keeping the border restrictions in place. In Canada the average daily count of new cases of COVID-19 infection is about 300. In the US the spread is presently rampant at about 60,000 per day. The population of the US is about 350 million, or just about 10 times that of Canada.
Today in Ottawa Canada’s Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr Howard Njoo said he would prefer to see the border should remaining closed until at least the end of the year. That was in the context of a vaccine not being available any sooner than 2021.
Good news for BC:
Here in BC the COVID-19 epidemiological curve has been flattened particularly effectively, and in that context today BC Health Minister Adrian Dix said he was pleased with the extension to August 21.
Dix described the border restriction extension as “positive and necessary news”.
He continued today in a news conference shared with Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry: “Everybody knows how difficult and inconvenient it (the border closure) is. In BC it is an absolute necessity in this time of continuing to take those actions (against the spread of COVID-19).”
Dix itemized that all neighbouring jurisdictions have increased cases, noting Alberta to the east and also in the USA including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. The US is having “record days of new cases of COVID-19”, he said, adding that BC is “supportive of what is a challenging situation” in a global pandemic context.
Taking a global perspective:
“It’s a world pandemic – these are places close to us and close to our hearts,” said Dix about being supportive of the US situation and other countries where a “lockdown 2.0” is being considered in response to continued COVDI-19 spread.
Dix warned British Columbians to not be smug about our success here in BC with flattening the curve. Things can change quickly.
“Our approach in BC uniquely ours. We took action early and thoughtfully. Our commitment was 100% all in,” said Minister Dix. He is pleased with “individual and collective actions” in BC as to management of the spread of COVID-19.
Getting to know COVID-19:
“Indecision is the acquaintance of COVID-19, inconsistency is its friend, and bad decisions are its closest ally. COVID-19 finds those gaps and pounces,” said Dix with eloquence about the pandemic to date. “It makes people sick. Stop the spread.”
Everyone is encouraged to play their part in the BC pandemic. “Remember to bend the curve, not the rules,” said Dix today. And using social media lingo: “Unfriend that behaviour that spreads COVID-19.”