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[BridgesToIdealism]

What's up with this apparent closure of Interstate 5 southbound at the Peace Arch Border Crossing?

[zzcarp]

I assume it has to do with the border closings due to the vast governmental overreactions to COVID19.

[ErmineNotyours]

I assume it has to do with the border closings due to the vast governmental overreactions to COVID19.

You'd have to blame this on the Canadians.  They've somehow figured out how to control the virus and they don't want any more from us.

[Alps]

Despite restrictions, most borders are generally open, just selective as to who gets through. Is I-5 actually closed? Notice the parallel crossing is not so designated.

[Bruce]

There are no active construction alerts from WSDOT or local news outlets, so I think this is just a mislabeling on Google's part. They do use some user-generated data for these kinds of traffic alerts, so it might be faulty.

As for the border restrictions, it's only right for Canada to restrict Americans from crossing over and spreading the virus. It's their sovereign territory and they have a duty to protect their citizens from an actual threat. It's not made any better by Americans using the "Alaska loophole" to vacation in BC and endanger communities.

On the bright side, Point Roberts now has a once-a-week ferry to help with the whole situation. Hopefully it sticks around long after COVID as an option for car-free visiting of a unique slice of the U.S.

[ErmineNotyours]

Despite restrictions, most borders are generally open, just selective as to who gets through. Is I-5 actually closed? Notice the parallel crossing is not so designated.

Since the Peach Arch crossing does not accept trucks, then closing that one would make the most sense.  I don't see any other info on that either.

[TXtoNJ]

I went south across Peace Arch this morning. It's showing up as closed because you're forced to go through the enhanced search loop instead of straight onto 5 (even though no search was done in my case). Google's traffic algorithm likely has that entire segment as one block, so it shows up as closed entirely.

[KEK Inc.]

I drove up to Bellingham this evening and noticed that the VMS signs near Fairhaven for the border crossing still post time estimates for the truck bypass and Peace Arch (both were under 5 minutes).

[Sub-Urbanite]

The border is open. However, Canada, like almost every other country, doesn't want us to come visit because they are doing a better job than us at controlling the virus.

[Brandon]

The border is open. However, Canada, like almost every other country, doesn't want us to come visit because they are doing a better job than us at controlling the virus.

They are?  We're only #11 in cases per 1 million population: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[vdeane]

The border is open. However, Canada, like almost every other country, doesn't want us to come visit because they are doing a better job than us at controlling the virus.

They are?  We're only #11 in cases per 1 million population: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

11/213.  Canada is 81.  We have about 5-6 times as many cases per million as they do according to that site.  And the US has been under-testing throughout the pandemic, so our numbers are almost certainly higher.

[SectorZ]

The border is open. However, Canada, like almost every other country, doesn't want us to come visit because they are doing a better job than us at controlling the virus.

They are?  We're only #11 in cases per 1 million population: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

11/213.  Canada is 81.  We have about 5-6 times as many cases per million as they do according to that site.  And the US has been under-testing throughout the pandemic, so our numbers are almost certainly higher.

Undertesting? Massachusetts over a quarter of the residents have been tested at this point (1.9M as of yesterday with 2.9M total tests). That seems like a pretty darn high number.

[Brandon]

The border is open. However, Canada, like almost every other country, doesn't want us to come visit because they are doing a better job than us at controlling the virus.

They are?  We're only #11 in cases per 1 million population: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

11/213.  Canada is 81.  We have about 5-6 times as many cases per million as they do according to that site.  And the US has been under-testing throughout the pandemic, so our numbers are almost certainly higher.

The US has tested 276,720 per 1 million population as of 9/12.  Canada has tested 160,526 per 1 million.  If anything, it is Canada that is under-testing here, not the US.

[1]

The two previous posts (SectorZ and Brandon), taken together, mean that Massachusetts is not testing way more than other states like I thought it was; 276720/1000000 ≈ 1/4. Am I missing something, was I mistaken, or is one of the two numbers wrong?

[vdeane]

The border is open. However, Canada, like almost every other country, doesn't want us to come visit because they are doing a better job than us at controlling the virus.

They are?  We're only #11 in cases per 1 million population: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

11/213.  Canada is 81.  We have about 5-6 times as many cases per million as they do according to that site.  And the US has been under-testing throughout the pandemic, so our numbers are almost certainly higher.

The US has tested 276,720 per 1 million population as of 9/12.  Canada has tested 160,526 per 1 million.  If anything, it is Canada that is under-testing here, not the US.

Some things to keep in mind:
-Testing in the US is far from uniform.  There's lots of testing in the northeast, not so much in, say, the south.
-Canada has less of an outbreak, which means fewer tests.  The fact that anyone who wants a test can get one with far quicker turnaround than even states that are taking this seriously speaks for itself.
-Those numbers for total cases are TOTAL - the whole length of the pandemic.  The US was very much not on its testing game in the early stages, far less than our peers, even in states taking this seriously.
-This US has by far more active cases than everyone else.  This is not just a matter of population.  We have 2.5 times as many active cases as the next nation down (India).  India has four times as many people as we do.  In terms of percent of the population, we have 38.5 times as many active cases as Canada.

Suffice to say, Canada is handling this far better than we are.  I would not be surprised if even New York, which is managing this pretty well by US standards, still has a higher rate of cases than the worst parts of Canada.

[Alps]

There are already COVID topics elsewhere in this forum. Please keep the focus on Peace Arch.