The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Canada and the United States have agreed to extend their mutual ban on non-essential travel between the two countries until Aug.20.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf confirmed the news in a tweet earlier today.
The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to so-called "discretionary" travel like vacations and shopping trips since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the continent in mid-March, an agreement that had been set to expire July 21.
The extension comes with COVID-19 resurgent across the U.S. — cases are on the rise in all 50 states, and southern states like Florida, Arizona and California are facing a fresh crisis with overcrowded hospital wards, refrigerated truck trailers serving as makeshift morgues and another shortage of personal protective medical gear.
The escalating emergency has also exposed a deep divide between Canadians dead-set against reopening the border and U.S. lawmakers in northern border states who continue to press both countries for a blueprint for doing exactly that.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the extent of the pandemic in the U.S. a "constantly evolving" situation, but won't say whether officials have considered extending the border restrictions beyond the standard 30-day window.
"Based on the success of the existing restrictions and close collaboration with Mexico and Canada, (the Department of Homeland Security) will continue to limit non-essential travel at our land ports of entry with Canada and Mexico until Aug. 20," Wolf tweeted.
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