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US-Canada border closure extended until August 21, report says

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

U.S.-Canada border to remain closed In this photo taken Sunday, May 17, 2020, U.S. and Canadian flags fly atop the Peace Arch at Peace Arch Historical State Park on the border with Canada, where people can walk freely between the two countries at an otherwise closed border, in Blaine, Wash. (Elaine Thompson/AP, File)

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Officials in the United States and Canada have agreed to keep the border between the two countries closed for another month as cases of the novel coronavirus spike in the U.S., Canada’s CTV News reported Tuesday.

Officials did not immediately confirm the report. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to comment on a possible extension, though Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that talks on the extended closure were ongoing.

“We’re going to continue to work hard to keep Canadians safe and to keep our economies flowing and we will have more to say later this week,” Trudeau said, according to Politico.

Officials closed the border to traffic deemed non-essential in March, a closure that’s been extended four times since. The most recent extension had been set to expire July 21, CBC News reported.

Before the pandemic, nearly 200,000 people crossed the border daily.

More than 3.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the U.S. since the pandemic began while only about 110,000 have been reported in Canada, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with the most coronavirus cases and the highest number of deaths. More than 135,000 people nationwide have died of the viral infection, thousands more than the 116,516 Americans killed during World War I.

About 8,800 people have died of COVID-19 in Canada, according to Johns Hopkins.

Cox Media Group

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