The United States is currently urging its citizens to “reconsider travel” to Canada due to what its Centers for Disease Control call “high levels” of COVID-19 infection.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department issued an updated travel advisory for Canada, upgrading its risk assessment to Level 3. This ends a brief three-week period when travel to Canada had been lowered to a Level 2 advisory, which coincided with Canada’s decision to allow fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents to visit the country for non-essential reasons.
The Centers for Disease Control also bumped traveling to Canada to a Level 3 advisory, warning that “because of the current situation in Canada, all travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”
The news comes as both countries battle a fourth wave of COVID-19 spurred by the Delta variant.
Over the past week, more than 21,000 cases have been reported in Canada, according to national data released on Monday. Meanwhile, over 900,000 cases were recorded last week in the U.S., according to the CDC.
Only about 61 percent of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated, compared to almost 75 per cent of Canadians over the age of 12.
The U.S.’ land border with Canada has been closed since March 2020. The country announced earlier this month that it would extend the restrictions until at least September 21, citing the continued COVID-19 outbreaks as the reason.
