As the United States reopens its border to Canadian travelers, the country’s health officials are demanding an expensive COVID-19 test to get home.
LYNDEN, Wash. – Day one of the long-awaited US border reopening has passed with a bang at the Edaleen Dairy store in Lynden.
It was very quiet at the border town store. For owner Mitch Moorlag it was far too quiet.
“It’s strange,” he said. “You can see there isn’t a lot of traffic, not a lot of customers.”
Moorlag reported that it has lost 70% of its business in the store since the coronavirus forced the Canada-U.S. Border closed 20 months ago.
Canadians often cross the border to Lynden to buy staples like milk, as they are cheaper in the United States.
To return to Canada, travelers must pass an expensive COVID-19 molecular test – even if they have only been in America for a few hours.
The tests cost between $ 150 and $ 300.
“For daytime buyers, and that’s what we have specifically, that will be a pretty strict requirement for them,” Moorlag said.
The ruler makes a quick trip across the border for milk, or just about anything else, completely unaffordable for most people.
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Canadian Aman Gill stopped by the store to buy ice cream, but said he wouldn’t cross the border to shop almost as often.
“I could come once a month, if that’s the case,” he said. “Today I did a bunch of errands. I went to Bellingham and bought a few other things. It’s not cheap but it’s nice to be back.”
Gill made the trip worth it, but mayors in border towns fear the COVID-19 testing requirement could hamper tourism in America – especially for families having to pay hundreds of dollars to return home.
On Monday, Canadian health officials said they were reviewing testing requirements to determine whether a different and cheaper test should be allowed.
So far, there has been no word on when or if this might happen.
“We hope that the testing requirement may disappear in the near future,” Moorlag said. “We just don’t know what the timeline is on this.”
For now, Moorlag is just happy to see Canadians in his store and he welcomes them with open arms.
“We are delighted that this is a start, that it is at least open,” he said. “Then we’ll just see what happens. “
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