Quarantine cheats and tourists threaten Canada amid US coronavirus surge

Concerns rising over imported cases as border crossings increase and travellers flout rules despite fines and checks

Ottawa is under pressure from US lawmakers who want phased plan for reopening, but more than 80 per cent of Canadians polled want border to remain closed

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A Canadian maple leaf is seen on the Peace Bridge, which runs between Canada and the United States, over the Niagara River in Buffalo, New York. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:51am, 21 Jul 2020Updated: 8:46pm, 25 Nov 2020

For 67 days, tiny Prince Edward Island went without a single new case of Covid-19. That changed earlier this month when Canada’s smallest province, best known as the home of fiction’s Anne of Green Gables, announced a cluster of new cases linked to a foreign student who entered Canada from the United States.

The man, who did not immediately self-isolate upon arrival in Canada as required by law, infected at least one person, who then infected at least four more.

“With tens of thousands of people crossing the border every day, there’s no way to enforce that” they follow the rules, said Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. “It’s a little bit scary.”

As Canada’s Covid-19 infections and deaths moderate, the explosion of new cases in the United States presents a challenge for Canadian authorities who must deal with both unwanted tourists slipping though the border and legitimate travellers who break the strict quarantine laws.

Judy Utgaard (left) of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, reaches out to hug her daughter Desiree Osborne, of Bellingham, Washington, for the first time in five months, after stepping across the Canada-US border at Peace Arch Historical State Park in July. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

The problem is compounded by a recent jump in crossings. More than 187,000 truck drivers and individuals entered last week from the US, a 30 per cent increase over the end of May.