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Poll results

Sponsored by: OTELCO

On Monday, the United States and Canada announced that they would continue the seven-month closure of their border in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The closure bans all nonessential travel, such as visits for recreation or tourism. Shipping of food, fuel, medicines and other vital goods is permitted, and citizens can return to their countries.

However, the shutdown has had a huge impact on Maine, where Canadian visitors usually spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year. In the first month of the closure, travel by car to the state at its 11 ports of entry plummeted 42%. 

Should the U.S. and Canada continue their ongoing ban on international border crossings?
Yes, the closure is vital to minimizing the spread of COVID-19. (42%, 143 VOTES)
No, the closure has already slowed COVID-19 as much as possible, and meanwhile Maine's economy is suffering. (58%, 200 VOTES)
Poll Description

Sponsored by: OTELCO

On Monday, the United States and Canada announced that they would continue the seven-month closure of their border in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The closure bans all nonessential travel, such as visits for recreation or tourism. Shipping of food, fuel, medicines and other vital goods is permitted, and citizens can return to their countries.

However, the shutdown has had a huge impact on Maine, where Canadian visitors usually spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year. In the first month of the closure, travel by car to the state at its 11 ports of entry plummeted 42%. 

  • 343 Votes
  • 10 Comments
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10 Comments

  • October 20, 2020

    Are we sure this is all about Covid or is it more about the Canadian government making sure Canadians spend there money in Canada?

  • October 20, 2020

    We are not pleased with the action of these two governments. Preventive measures have been largely ineffective and juvenile in their approach. This is how they react in the face of their own failures!
    My wife and I are in our late 70s and practice the most important things of all - personal hygiene, (washing our hands many, many times a day), staying away from others, and a balanced diet. Its easy, simple and it works.
    We are never ill!
    Too bad the bureaucrats couldn't put their energies into devising a program to convince the people of a better way!

  • October 20, 2020

    I'm in favor of opening it slowly and first letting those with family members cross. Having grown up on the border, I know this is devastating to families, as well as businesses - especially those with elderly relatives "over the river", as we used to say. My mother took care of two elderly cousins for years who lived across the border, where she grew up. I don't know what they would have done, had she not been able to cross to help them out with groceries, doctors appts., and household chores. I have friends who married "Canadian boys" and live on one side or the other. I haven't seen one in nearly a year and she can't visit her 86 year old mother just across the river. Another friend has parents in their 80s in Quebec...same deal. With all the precautions taken, let's let them cross. Life is short. Then, perhaps start to allow people who live within 50 miles or so of the border cross. Tourism aside, there's a lot of cross-border shopping for every type of necessity. My mother always bought bread and tea bags in Canada! In the small border towns, there aren't a lot of stores to choose from and it's like we were always one big community and shopped their stores and ours for the variety. There are also few entertainment/sports venues in some towns...we went to the movie theatre across the border and also the skating arena. Golfers came to our side of the river to the country club.
    Hopefully, by next summer, we can visit St. Andrews...where we held our wedding reception 35 years ago...and had hoped to celebrate our anniversary this past summer. Let's be safe...but sensible about the solutions.

  • October 20, 2020

    As one of many cross border families, this is painful and unnecessary if we both followed protocols. Why not a bubble with NB or join the Maritime bubble? We share similar statistics. I speak as a Maine native with US & Canadian citizenships.

  • October 20, 2020

    I think that the less that people move about, the safer we are, but my heart breaks for the families affected by this closure. Our borders run through our communities.