As the volume of travellers entering Canada through the U.S. has increased in recent weeks, public health officials are being placed at land borders to bolster screening for COVID-19.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is adding on-site employees at 36 points of entry, including New Brunswick crossings in St. Stephen, Woodstock and Edmundston.
Tammy Jarbeau, a Health Canada spokesperson, said the “increased presence” of officials is at the points of entry — including air and land — that see 90 per cent of travellers.
“PHAC officials, including quarantine officers, clinical screening officers and screening officers will be on-site to screen travellers entering Canada at these ports of entry,” she said.
The news follows a surge in new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., with large daily increases in some of the country’s most populous states. That uptick is paired with an increase in traffic across the international border at airports and land crossings, as restrictions are loosened.
Travel across the border has been linked to a new cluster of cases in Prince Edward Island tied to an individual who came from the U.S. with a student visa.
The number of passenger cars crossing the border at Calais, Maine, fell to 5,400 for the month of April. In January 106,000 cars entered the U.S. there. (CBC)
Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Toronto, said medical screening for the virus falls outside the job of Canadian Border Service Agency officers.
“That’s a problem,” he said. “We just assume that we can just charge the customs and immigration folks with essentially doing public health work.”
Furness said he believes the health officials will be used for secondary screening if there is an issue, which could be a question that creates cause for concern. He thinks the decision might have been prompted by the recent increase in cross-border travel.
Land crossings nearly double
Traffic between the U.S. and Canada has dropped since the border closed to non-essential travel on March 21. But recent exemptions have allowed for traffic to enter, including immediate family members, who are required to quarantine and stay in the country for a minimum of 15 days.
Cross-border travel is also permitted for work and study, medical care, health reasons and to maintain the flow of goods and services for essential supply chains.
Two government orders currently restrict travel into Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first blocks entry to foreign nationals except for certain circumstances, while the second closes the U.S.-Canada land border to non-essential travel until July 21.
Cars line up to cross into the United States at the U.S.-Canada border in February in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)
The volume of people crossing the land border has increased since restrictions began in March, from about 115,000 a week from late April to early May to 175,000 a week in late June. Those figures include commercial and non-commercial traffic.
The number of non-commercial highway travellers entering Canada has nearly doubled over that time period, going from about 3,300 a week to about 6,500.
It’s unclear how much of that traffic entered New Brunswick, as the CBSA would not provide statistics for specific ports of entry or provinces, citing security reasons.
Secondary health screening
Mark Stuart, an agency spokesperson, said officers ask all travellers about their purpose of visit and state of their health and look for visible signs of illness.
“CBSA officers remain vigilant and are highly trained to identify travellers seeking entry into Canada who may pose a health and safety risk,” he said.
Officers will refer any traveller suspected of being ill to a Public Health Agency staff member for further assessment, regardless of how they responded to questions. They also consider if a person is able to properly self isolate or quarantine.
The health agency said all ports of entry, including land borders, always have access to quarantine officers through a tele-health system. Only the 36 high-traffic sites will have that staff onsite.
All travellers entering Canada are required to isolate if they have symptoms or quarantine for 14 days without signs of the virus. International arrivals must also complete a contact-tracing form and provide information to allow for physical checks that they are following isolation rules.
‘People want it shutdown’
St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern said he believes residents in his border community will feel safer with the new measures.
“People knowing that is put in place, how people will try to bend the rules and try to sneak through even though they could be arrested, you don’t know — they won’t take that chance now,” he said.
The mayor said his town is in a “tough situation” with the shutdown with families divided and daily life disrupted. St. Stephen also relies on a steady flow of American tourists at its businesses.
St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern expects his community will be grateful for the border health checks. (Catherine Harrop/CBC)
Despite close ties with neighbouring Calais, Me., fears over COVID-19 are prompting calls for the closure to continue.
“Walking on the street or reading comments on Facebook, you can definitely see people want it shut down, they really do want it shut down,” MacEachern said
Travel restrictions helping
Furness said travel restrictions — despite some flare-ups — have been largely effective at preventing the spread of the virus from the U.S. and internationally. But the risk remains.
“It doesn’t take that many people to cause a lot of COVID,” he said. “I mean one person can spark a whole outbreak.”
In February and March, CBSA officials began asking screening questions and taking temperatures sporadically.
Colin Furness is an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. (University of Toronto)
Those measures do little to catch asymptomatic individuals. Furness said he’d like to see the use of pulse oximeters, a device that checks how much oxygen is dissolved in blood. That level could indicate decreased lung capacity and the possibility of having COVID-19.
The infection control epidemiologist said the key measure of how well governments are managing the crisis is looking at the response when a case gets through.
“The one thing to be afraid of is someone presents at the hospital, they’ve got COVID, and they have no idea how they got it,” he said. “That’s what’s scary.”
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
