The United States is keeping Canadian and Mexican tourists away for at least another month, according to the Department of Homeland Security announcement on Friday.
“To minimize the spread of #COVID19, including the Delta variant, the United States is extending restrictions on non-essential travel on our land and ferry crossings with Canada and Mexico through September 21, while continuing to guarantee the flow of essential commerce and travel,” DHS tweeted Friday.
The United States has extended this restriction monthly since it was first implemented in March 2020. At that time, Canada and Mexico also closed their borders to leisure travelers to limit the spread of the virus.
On Aug. 5, the White House announced that it would require arriving travelers to be fully vaccinated as part of its plan to reopen international borders. However, the date of such reopening remains unknown.
It is important to note that this decision in no way affects air and land travel to Canada or Mexico.
Since August 9, Canada has allowed its fully vaccinated American neighbors to fly into the country for leisure reasons. Mexico has been doing the same for most of the pandemic.
With the new ban extending beyond the end of the summer season and the number of coronavirus cases spiraling out of control across the country, airline officials believe it will be weeks and even months before the US lifts its travel restrictions, according to Reuters.
The US is currently seeing an average of more than 11,000 new hospitalizations for COVID-19 per week, and “could hit a record in a month,” warned the CDC. Unfortunately, Data for the CDC seems backup the civil aviation sector.
For now, US healthcare systems are reporting a growing influx of patients flooding emergency rooms due to the massive spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.
On the positive side, the CDC also reported that the average pace of those starting vaccinations is more than 70% higher than in July.