Canada to close borders to most non-citizens, stop ill travellers from boarding inbound flights, PM announces

National Post ^ | March 16, 2020 8:29 PM EDT | Ryan Tumilty

[Zhang Fei]

Canada is closing its doors to the world by severely restricting international flights, a move the government rejected just days ago, but is now embracing in a sign of just how quickly the coronavirus crisis is escalating.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the sweeping travel restrictions Monday at a press conference outside Rideau Cottage, where he and his family have been in isolation, since his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, contracted the virus last week.

Starting Wednesday, all international visitors to Canada will be turned around at the airport, with the exception of Americans, diplomats and flight crews.

“We will be denying entry to Canada to people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents,” said Trudeau, who added anyone coming back to the country needs to self isolate for 14 days.

The American border will remain open and there is currently no plan to restrict domestic flights. Canadians and permanent residents will be allowed to return home, but have been warned to do so quickly.

“Canadian travellers should return to Canada via commercial means while it’s still possible to do so. Let me clear: if you’re abroad, it’s time for you to come home,” said Trudeau.

Family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents will also be allowed to come home.

Trudeau said the government would also mandate that airlines would have to do a basic health assessment of anyone travelling, including citizens, and anyone who might have the virus will not be allowed to travel to Canada.

“Anyone who has symptoms will not be able to come to Canada.”

As of Monday afternoon, Canada had 407 confirmed cases of the virus, while there were more than 175,000 cases worldwide. The death toll in Canada has been low so far, but three new deaths were reported in British Columbia on

[Zhang Fei]

Canada's Chinese population is about 2m, roughly 7x Italy's. And yet, despite the only travel ban ever imposed, on flights other than from the US, that started only 2 weeks ago, and both cold and dry weather, its covid-19 death toll remains low, at less than 100.

[2banana]

RACISTS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oscar in Batangas]

May I be the first to exclaim:

That’s Racisss!

(And I’m Canadian by birth, even)

[Oscar in Batangas]

Dang FRiend...you must have a blinding fast typing speed!

[ifinnegan]

I’m surprised Canada hadn’t been hit hard.

[dfwgator]

One of the least densely populated countries in the world.

[rktman]

Butt they let meeee-gun and hairy slip out didn’t they. Nice work justine trueDOH.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Compared to Italy, a higher proportion of Canada’s Chinese population hail from Hong Kong, or Taiwan, or are multi-generational citizens. AFAIK, hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese citizens are in Italy, to work on infrastructure projects. They tend to do a lot of travel back and forth from mainland China to Italy; which makes them more likely to be importing the disease.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

True that. I lived in the far north, for over 25 years. Population density there is measured in sq. miles/person. (It was 13 sq. miles/person, while I lived there.) It makes a difference.

[TnTnTn]

Oh hell no...that’s racist as hell...what happened to the open border policy...

[Zhang Fei]

[One of the least densely populated countries in the world.]

---

Except most Canadians live in a densely-populated strip next to the US border:

Largest US and Canadian Cities by Population Density:
New York, NY 28,317/sq m
San Francisco, CA 18,569/sq mi
Vancouver, BC 14,226/sq mi
Boston, MA 13,938/sq mi
Miami, FL 12,599/sq mi
Chicago, IL 11,900/sq m
Philadelphia, PA 11,683/sq mi
Toronto, ON 11,226/sq mi
Washington, DC 11,148/sq mi
Montreal, QC 10,075/sq mi
Long Beach, CA 9,347/sq mi
Los Angeles, CA 8,484/sq mi
Seattle, WA 8,405/sq mi
Minneapolis, MN 7,660/sq mi
Baltimore, MD 7,598/sq mi
Oakland, CA 7,514/sq mi
Mississauga, ON 6,391/sq mi
Milwaukee, WI 6,186/sq mi
San Jose, CA 5,777/sq mi
Brampton, ON 5,772/sq mi
Sacramento, CA 5,059/sq mi
Detroit, MI 4,847/sq mi
Portland, OR 4,793/sq m
Las Vegas, NV 4,709/sq mi
Fresno, CA 4,563/sq mi
Denver, CO 4,521/sq m
Laval, QC 4,431/sq mi
San Diego, CA 4,325/sq mi
Surrey, BC 4,239/sq mi
Arlington, TX 4,100/sq mi
Columbus, OH 3,936/sq mi
Calgary, AB 3,888/sq mi
Dallas, TX 3,866/sq mi
Winnepeg, MB 3,700/sq mi
Houston, TX 3,613/sq m
Atlanta, GA 3,539/sq mi
Edmonton, AB 3,525/sq mi
Omaha, NE 3,356/sq m
Mesa, AZ 3,514/sq m
San Antonio, TX 3,238/sq mi
Raleigh, NC 3,163/sq mi
Phoenix, AZ 3,120/sq mi
Quebec City, QC 3,039/sq mi
Austin, TX 3,031/sq mi
Albuquerque, NM 2,972/sq mi
Charlotte, NC 2,757/sq mi
El Paso, TX 2,660/sq mi
Fort Worth, TX 2,491/sq mi
Wichita, KS 2,431/sq mi
Colorado Springs, CO 2,378/sq mi
Indianapolis, IN 2,366/sq m
Louisville, KY 2,339/sq m
New Orleans, LA 2,311/sq mi
Tucson, AZ 2,299/sq mi
Memphis, TN 2,056/sq mi
Tulsa, OK 2,048/sq mi
Virginia Beach, VA 1,850/sq mi
Kansas City, MO 1,528/sq mi
Nashville, TN 1,388/sq mi
Hamilton, ON 1,245/sq mi
Jacksonville, FL 1,178/sq mi
Oklahoma City, OK 1,053/sq mi
Ottawa, ON 867/sq mi
Halifax, NS 190/sq mi

[MuttTheHoople]

THus speaks Justin Castro.

[moovova]

Racist, xenophobic, homophobic, science denying Prime Minister.

[Tallguy]

Are they calling out the Mounties? Always wanted to see that! Or maybe *gasp* the Canadian Army?

[Freee-dame]

Are most Chinese people in Italy working on infrastructure projects or working in clothing and leather goods factories? Many of these latter have been bought by Chinese companies. People buy items that say “made in Italy “. What they do not say is ...... made by Chinese workers in Chinese-owned factories. Chinese workers live in densely packed areas in the Lombardy region centered around Milan which is a big fashion area and where the coronavirus has hit hardest.

[madison10]

At this point in the timeline that is a very old article, March 16.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

I’ll have to defer to you, and others who may have a better handle on this. I said “AFAIK”, because my information stems entirely from recent news reports. I was aware of the sweatshops; but, I thought that the infrastructure workers were travelling back and forth far more frequently.

[Zhang Fei]

[At this point in the timeline that is a very old article, March 16.]

---

Actually, this is a fresh article, on a lookback basis, because Canada’s total body count number is still in the double digits, compared to Italy’s 5 digits. Italy’s population (1) is half again as large as Canada’s, (2) has 1/7 the Chinese population, (3) lives in a far more humid and balmier climate than Canada’s and (4) has a city population density 50% higher Canada’s biggest cities (which are similar to the US in that respect). And yet the relative death tolls are lopsidedly large, and not in Italy’s favor.

[Freee-dame]

Very possible.

[pfflier]

Didn’t their girly boy PM criticize President Trump for doing this a few weeks ago?