Strict measures are needed to flatten a surge of COVID-19 in the United States, but keeping the nation’s border with Canada closed is unnecessarily oppressive. U.S. officials should welcome visitors who have been fully vaccinated; at the least, they should make an exception for the Washington town of Point Roberts.
Instead, the Biden administration announced this month that a ban on nonessential travel from Canada has been extended to Sept. 21. That is harmful to the many Washington cities and businesses that rely on visitors from the north, and it lends some tension to the state’s relationship with its nearest international neighbor.
Restrictions apply to car, rail and ferry travel, but Canadians may still travel to the U.S. via airplane. That loophole points out the capriciousness of the decision; if visitors from Canada are especially likely to bring coronavirus with them, the risk does not change depending on the method of travel.
U.S. officials were quick to point…
