Canada-U.S. border news brings travel hope. Here’s how to do it safely

The first and most important thing you can do to keep your pandemic-era travel plans low-risk is getting vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the experts.

With the news that the Canada-U.S. border restrictions are set to lift come November, Canadians might find themselves loading up on gas and preparing to take advantage of the newfound freedom. But Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is warning people to continue to “listen closely” to advice from Canadian officials and medical authorities.

As things stand now, that advice is still to avoid non-essential travel.

“Just be careful. We have almost, almost gotten past COVID. We have high national vaccination rates,” Freeland said.

“Just try to do the things you need to do and maybe hold back on doing the things that you just want to do. And I think if we can keep on doing that for a few more weeks, Canada can really fully put COVID behind us.”

Still, if you do decide to travel, here’s how infectious disease specialists say you can do it safely.

The first and most important thing you can do to keep your travel plans low-risk is get vaccinated, according to the experts.

“That’s going to be, obviously, helpful from a health standpoint, but also from the regulatory standpoint of getting in and out of the (United) States and Canada,” said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist.

Under the United States’ new rules, non-essential travellers will be asked about their vaccination status at land border crossings, and only those who are fully vaccinated will be allowed through — with no testing requirement. Proof of vaccination will be required if selected for random screening.