BUFFALO (WBEN) - The Canadian government raised a lot of eyebrows earlier this week when announcing the plan to begin a phased reopening in July.
Many, including local officials such as Congressman Brian Higgins, were hoping for a plan that would allow vaccinated individuals to cross the border, but Canada's restrictions are much more conservative.
Phase one will take place in early July, but that would only allow fully vaccinated Canadian citizens to be exempt from a two-week quarantine when returning to the country as long as they test negative for COVID twice on top of their vaccination.
Those who are already approved to cross the border would need to present a negative COVID test, proof of vaccination, and then upon arrival will be required to take another test and quarantine until that test comes back negative.
WBEN spoke to Dr. Tom Russo, Chief of Infectious Disease at the Jacobs School of Medicine, to find out if these policies go overboard.
"Yeah, I think this is extremely overboard, and I'm quite disappointed," Russo began. "I was hoping that the border would be opened up to at least vaccinated individuals. We know that if you're fully vaccinated, your likelihood of transmitting disease is extraordinarily low, and likewise in terms of getting infected.
"I know the Canadians are behind the United States in the vaccination race, and they have more cases than we do at this point, though they're starting to turn the corner," he continued. "But it makes no sense to close the border to fully vaccinated individuals, nor to test these individuals, which we're not doing in this country unless a fully vaccinated individual is symptomatic."
But how would these seemingly overly-stringent policies come about in the first place?
"To be honest with you, I'm not sure," said Russo. "It's contrary to the CDC recommendations, and it's contrary to what the science shows us. It's clearly an ultra-conservative decision that's been made, but I think the value of it is going to be quite limited in terms of keeping the number of cases down."
