Congrressman Calls for Peace Bridge, Rainbow Bridge and Other Border Crossings to Be “Fully Open” by July
“We cannot keep the border closed forever – families, loved ones, businesses, and communities along the northern border have sacrificed so much for the past year to get where we are. Now is the time for the Biden Administration to act (on land crossings along the border). _ – Brian Higgins, U.S. Congressman for the Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York area
A News Release from the Buffalo, New York Office of U.S. Democratic Consgtressman Brian Higgisn
Posted May 14th, 2021 on Niagara At Large
With Existing Cross-Border Order Set to Expire Next Week Congressman Says CDC Guidance Demonstrates the Ability to Safely Return to Travel.
Buffalo, New York area Democratic Party Congressman Brian Higgins
Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) says new public health guidance confirms we can safely reopen the border between the United States and Canada.
The Congressman, who serves as Co-Chair of the Northern Border Caucus and the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group, is pressing the White House to end the orders banning non-essential travel which have been issued monthly for over a year now.
In a letter to President Biden<https://higgins.house.gov/sites/higgins.house.gov/files/051421%20Letter%20to%20President%20Biden%20re%20CDC%20-%20Northern%20Border.pdf>, Higgins writes, “For over a year, Americans along the Northern Border have awaited eagerly the end of the pandemic and resumption of normal commerce and travel between our two countries.
The CDC’s decision lifting the masking requirement for fully vaccinated Americans is an affirmation of the scientific fact on the power of vaccinations to crush COVID-19.
We cannot keep the border closed forever – families, loved ones, businesses, and communities along the northern border have sacrificed so much for the past year to get where we are. Now is the time for the Biden Administration to act in furtherance of the CDC guidance and work with the Government of Canada to finally open the border beginning Memorial Day.”
New guidance<https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html> released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says fully vaccinated people can:
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* Resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance
Here’s hoping to one day get back to something like this at the border bridges again.
- * Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel
- * Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States
- * Refrain from testing following a known exposure, if asymptomatic, with some exceptions for specific settings
- * Refrain from quarantine following a known exposure if asymptomatic
- * Refrain from routine screening testing if feasible.
Using that same science and health recommendation, Higgins argues similar guidance can be extended to the Northern Border.
The border between the U.S. and Canada first closed to non-essential travel in March 2020. The existing Executive Order is set to expire on May 21.
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Brian Higgins has to remember there are TWO sides to the border and his request cannot be instituted unilaterally. We are on lockdown beyond their Memorial Day anyway. Is he unaware of that? I have empathy for folks who are vaccinated (with proof, AKA a VALID government issued vaccination certificate), who have close family or own property but Ontario is far from being under control, as is true of Alberta, Quebec and several other provinces. Americans are not the only ones who have sacrificed and they can still be in danger as well. The restrictions must be strict and enforced (which they have not been) and maintained extremely carefully. We seem to have made the same mistakes over and over again by bowing to public pressure.
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