TORONTO (Reuters), – Canadian retirees heading to U.S. sunspots gathered at the U.S. border Monday morning to drive across the country for the first time since 20 months. However, testing may slow down short-stay travel.

As a response to coronavirus pandemic in the early 2020s, the United States initially imposed a travel ban. This banned access for most citizens of 33 non-U.S. countries from 33 nations, including China, India, and large parts of Europe. Overland immigration from Mexico and Canada was also restricted.

On Monday, packed intercontinental flights touched down https://www.reuters.com/world/us/international-travellers-head-united-states-flights-reopen-2021-11-08, while the U.S. land borders with Mexico https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-mexico-border-reopens-after-20-months-covid-disruption-2021-11-08 and Canada also saw families reunite.

Janet Simoni said that “this whole half of mine has been missing almost two years.” She lives in London Ontario, while her husband is located on the other end of the U.S.-Canada border.

They usually see one another on weekends or vacations together, but they lived apart for nearly two years. She said that the two had missed important milestones, including their graduation and funeral.

Marty Firestone stated that news of the opening of the border has unleashed “tremendous, pent-up demand” and his travel insurance agency experienced a 25% increase in business last month over October 2019. Much of this was due to snowbirds.

They were shocked to hear that the U.S. Border was being opened when the news broke.

Most travellers must provide proof of immunization in both directions. Certain states in the United States require negative COVID-19 tests. Canada requires a negative PCR test.

Firestone said that the requirement for PCR tests is meant to deter some short travels such as day-trippers crossing borders looking for Black Friday discounts.

Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada said Friday that the requirement for testing was being “actively looked into.” Questions about the factors that might have influenced such a decision were not answered by Canada’s Public Health Agency of Canada.

Statistics Canada reports that three quarters of all Canadian travel to the United States was by automobile in 2019. Canadians drove across the border in 21.5million cars that year.