written by Julianna Alvarez

Two and a half years since Covid 19 hit United States and the lockdown and mask mandate that was established, it has now been lifted and surpassed with certain rules and regulations, furthermore Canadian border was also shut down to citizens who were not essential workers, and nobody could cross the border for the past two and a half years. Recently, the border crossing from America to Canada has officially opened for citizens to cross on a regular basis, leading to families reuniting and traveling to become more accessible. With the increase of individuals flowing in and out of Canada, there are rules and regulations in which everyone must follow in order to be able to successfully cross the border, and if not followed correctly you will not be able to cross the border. Some individuals are second guessing if they think crossing the border is worth it or not.

To be able to cross the border, a mandatory Covid19 rapid test is required 2 days before crossing the border, as well as proof of vaccination. Making sure to download the app that is required to show at the border your results of the rapid test at the border, if not followed, you would have to stay until the app is downloaded on your phone or you cannot cross the border. The app that needs to be downloaded is called “ArriveCAN” and when crossing the border, you would have to open the app and display your covid test and proof of vaccination that also must be submitted on the app on your cellphone device to show officials your results.

With following the guidelines to be able to cross the border, many individuals are getting tested recently at their nearby drug stores and there is an increase amount of test’s being sent into the labs that it is causing some delays with covid test being resulted to individuals. When getting a rapid Covid19 test, an appointment is required to be able to track who will be coming in and getting tested. Also making sure that when getting tested for Covid19, the testing is completed through the drive through at the drug store pharmacy and gaining a rapid test can be costly as well. Customers who come into the drug store, specifically Walgreens which gives out Covid19 test and vaccines, talked about their experience with obtaining a Covid19 test and how they felt with following the mandatory guidelines to cross the border, “It has to be quick and can be very stressful… if you’re not familiar with getting tested and crossing the border it can be a stressful process for you… when arriving at the border I wasn’t aware that we had to also have an app downloaded, we were told by the border patrol that we had to download the app to show them our proof of test and vaccination, it was pretty stressful”, with the lack of knowledge and information that is being spread it can be difficult to actually be prepared when crossing the border at this time and with rules and regulations changing every day, it can be tough to keep up and word by mouth will increase to know certain information.

A customer that came from Canada came into Walgreens as well and he had to come in to get tested again to be able to cross back into Canada and when asked if it’s worth going through the process to be able to cross the border he stated, “to make sure everyone that is crossing is negative for Covid19 and making sure they are up to date with their vaccination, it is worth going through the process knowing people coming in and out of the countries are safe as well as individuals who are staying home and don’t have to be affected by a person who gets sick”, although the process to be able to cross the border can be a little stressful, making sure everyone is safe and healthy is key to be able to get back to the activities we all used to do two and a half years ago.