Unfortunately these turn of events will tend to change given by the day or minute....
In addition, there have been news reports of current requirements upon a particular US or Canada port of entry (land or sea)
having their own set of criteria rules along with the federal level mandates already implemented.
As others have noted, do contact the CBSA as I would also try to speak with an official at the port of call location you intend to enter.
MDKMDK wrote:
Current situation since March 21, for the next 30 days.
I don't think returning home by transiting Canada is non-essential travel. It's not recreational and not tourism. You just want to drive home to Alaska.
It would help if you did not display any symptoms of the illness, when you reach Canada Customs.
I'm not a lawyer or legal aid, but I think it's pretty clear.
Good luck.
I tend to agree this is spot on MDK,
returning home to Alaska is considered essential as long as the OP can prove
Alaska is the home of record and home of residence in which an Alaska ID along with a full disclosure background check that the CBSA has accessible will confirm that.
The other two factors (as of today's post) I want to mention here :
Canada federal mandate - As of two weeks ago, anyone that is potentially permitted to enter Canada
will go thru additional health screening measures required to pass before proceeding.
Alaska state mandate - As of two weeks ago, upon arrival in Alaska from abroad, all individuals must self quarantine for 14 days along with state mandatory stay at home orders.
RICK-ards Red wrote:
Having just returned to Canada as of Sat. April 4 the border is open to Canadian residents, you must self isolate for 14 days and provide your contact info for health authorities to follow up with you.
Now the Yukon Gov't has just posted that they are stopping visitors to the Yukon BUT residents of Alaska will be able to pass through and have 24 hours to get to Alaska.
The best thing to do is call the border entry point you will be using
to cross into Canada and ask your question as you are going home.
Another great post pointing out the measures the Yukon Territory has taken during this crisis :
The latest reports I read reference to the Yukon Territory was implementing measures should the situation get worse there as they had 4 confirmed cases at that time...now they have 7 confirmed as of today....
Although it's do able - depending what type of RV one is hauling with, the 24 hour mandate of driving from Watson Lake to the Alaska Border is a tall order for winter conditions...
Even while driving (moving) on a 16 hour day for 575 miles, one would average 36 mph as it is still currently a late winter here in many places in the far north dealing with some not so smooth stretches due to potential road and weather conditions - with only 8 hours of time remaining for bathroom breaks, rest stops, eating, refueling, and sleep combined....
Furthermore with situations out of control to the traveler, I wonder if this 24 hour mandate would actually be strictly enforced.
A lot of northern region provinces, territorial and Alaska community villages had taken drastic measures to implement no permitted entry mandates of sorts to outsiders.
This is what the Northwest Territories had already done IMMEDIATELY after they had their first confirmed case of COVID-19....Closed all non essential travel to visitors and mandated returning residents to self quarantine orders.
I wished Alaska had done the same when the US had their first confirmed case as Alaska has now 191 confirmed cases to date because of not quarantining any travelers upon returning.
Despite taking extreme measures since the first week of March wearing a N95 mask and gloves in public, building up my immune system etc. (a week before the known first confirmed case in Fairbanks on March 15), 5 days later on March 20 I came down with COVID-19 symptoms with a 5 day fever of 99-101 F and a bad cough on the second day since with a week of real fatigue with no travel or contact related cases - Do not know how I ended up getting sick with no known exposure from anyone around me as the hospital asked me to get tested since I was 54 and stated I have diabetes which put me at a medium risk group permitted to get tested - gotten tested on Mon March 23rd and was declared NEGATIVE for COVID-19 on Mon March 30th - couldn't believe the test result as I never got sick and fatigued like that ever - I since fully recovered other than the cough and only felt winded once (on day 3 and 4) while shoveling snow for 20 minutes and walked one half mile, as my O2 sensor oxygen levels the whole time read between 95% to 100% as my lungs were not attacked to my knowledge.
For those on essential travel, be careful as I can attest to be grateful to post this message as such.
