Canadian officials announced Monday they will lift remaining covid restrictions at the border for non-essential travelers.
Starting Oct. 1, visitors won’t be required to show proof of vaccination or to fill out the ArriveCAN app, Canada’s public health agency said in a news release.
Canada also will no longer require pre- and post-arrival testing for travelers or quarantine or isolation for visitors who experience covid symptoms.
“The removal of border measures has been facilitated by a number of factors, including modeling that indicates that Canada has largely passed the peak of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 fuelled wave, Canada’s high vaccination rates, lower hospitalization and death rates, as well as the availability and use of vaccine boosters (including new bivalent formulation), rapid tests, and treatments for COVID-19,” the news release said.
Canada and the United States agreed to ban nonessential crossings at their 5,500-mile border on March 21, 2020. Canada eased restrictions in August 2021, allowing vaccinated Americans to cross the border for non-essential travel but requiring use of the ArriveCAN app and pre-arrival testing. Canada dropped the pre-arrival testing mandate for vaccinated Americans in April.
The U.S. opened its border to vaccinated foreign travelers in October 2021.
Canada is also lifting covid mitigation measures on cruise ships, where travelers have been required to be vaccinated, take pre-boarding tests and use ArriveCAN.
Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud said the benefits of the eased restrictions are “twofold.” Not only will Alaskans have an easier time getting into Canada, but Yukoners might be more inclined to make the trip down to Haines without the additional steps that have been required to cross back into Canada, Olerud said.