OTTAWA -- The land border between Canada and the United States will remain closed until at least July 21.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said while he understands Canadians want to get back to normal as quickly as possible, he's not ready to restart the flow of non-essential traffic between the two countries just yet.
The land border has been closed to traffic since March 2020.
"We are looking forward to getting back to normal as quickly as possible, but we're not through this pandemic yet," Trudeau said, quarantining at Rideau Cottage after returning home from the G-7 Summit.
"We're still seeing cases across the country and we want to get them down. At the same time we also know we have to hit our targets, 75 per cent vaccinated with the first dose, at least 20 per cent vaccinated with the second dose, before we can start loosening things up."
According to the New York Times World Vaccination Tracker, about 66 per cent of Canadians have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination and 15 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Trudeau said he's concerned travellers, even fully vaccinated ones, may pick up the COVID-19 virus and pass it along to others who have not yet been vaccinated -- or who choose not to get vaccinated for a variety of reasons.
"That means we have to really make sure that not only people who are fully vaccinated can travel, but the communities to which they return are not at risk, because even though they are protected from hospitalization, the people around them might not be," the prime minister said.
"That's why we are sticking with our principle of doing everything necessary to keep Canadians safe, first and foremost, even as we move forward on loosening restrictions in a responsible way."
There have been growing calls from both side of the border to speed up the reopening, in particular to those who have completed a full vaccination cycle.
Tourism has been hard hit in both the United States and Canada as a result, including many Northwestern Ontario businesses.
Trudeau said he spoke with Canadian premiers on Thursday night and said the focus is on doing it the right way and not spurring on a fourth COVID-19 wave.
The prime minister also addressed concerns from some Canadians who received one or two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and are now realizing they may be excluded from some events in the United States, whose Center for Disease Control has not approved the AstraZeneca shot for use in the United States.
Bruce Springsteen on Broadway ticket-holders, for example, must be fully vaccinated with a CDC-approved shot, which excludes AstraZeneca. The decision was based on New York state guidelines, but New York is not alone. Baseball's Seattle Mariners also require a double dose of an approved vaccine to sit in fully vaccinated sections at T-Mobile Park. Those who don't must wear masks inside the ballpark.
"There's going to be co-ordination and collaboration work that's necessary across the world to make sure that people who are vaccinated and protected, and are protecting their community against COVID-19, can still travel. These are discussions that are ongoing. We will definitely make sure that people who got two or one AstraZeneca dose will not be disadvantaged when they want to travel," Trudeau said.
"These are discussions that will end in the next coming weeks so that people can start travelling. We're not just there quite yet."
