The U.S. has eased its travel COVID-19 advisory for Canada from level 3 “Reconsider travel” to “Level 2 Exercise Increased Caution,” according to a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on Tuesday.
Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 2 Travel Health Notice for Canada due to COVID-19. This means the CDC considers Canada to have a “moderate level of COVID-19 in the country.”
Canada began allowing fully vaccinated Americans to cross the land border again on August 9 with a few restrictions. Visitors only need to complete their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at least two weeks before reaching an entry port.
These developments may be inattentively considered important steps forward for a two-way reopening. The ugly truth is that the U.S. has refused to reciprocate, leaving Canadians requiring to enter the US by land with no options in sight.
Instead, the U.S. extended its land border blockage through August 21. So far, the county has completed more than 16 months turning Canadians away.
The U.S. government has expressed ad nauseam that these inexplicable decisions have been made to protect their citizens from the external Delta variant threat.
However, over the last few weeks the epidemiology situation has been spiraling out of control in their own territory.
The country is seeing more than 108,000 daily new infections — the highest rate observed since January, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University.
Florida is experiencing the worst-case scenario with more than 65 people hospitalized with Covid-19 for every 100,000 population. The national average is 21 hospitalized patients for every 100,000 people.
In Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, hospitalization rates double the national figures.
As per a CNN report Tuesday, 2 emergency rooms had to temporarily shut down in Texas as Covid-19 hospitalization and deaths have exceeded their attention capacity.
People experiencing a medical emergency in this area of Texas should “proceed to the nearest emergency room in Greenville or Quinlan,” the Hunt Regional Medical Center announced.
Every day, about 514 Americans lose their lives to the virus according to Johns Hopkins University.