TORONTO -- Crossing the border into Canada right now can be as simple as strolling across a bridge.
"We flew to Buffalo and walked across the border," Carla Sanderson told CTV News Toronto. She arrived today from Brooklyn, New York with her wife to visit family in Toronto.
While the border with the U.S. is closed to most traffic, the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ont. is steady with foot traffic.
It's common to see people cross on foot, luggage in hand. For Sanderson, this was better than flying.
"We originally planned to do that but then we thought we'd save the money and save three days and get to be quarantined with the family,” she said.
If they had flown, they would have to spend time in a COVID-19 quarantine hotel, which would cost of a few hundred dollars at the least.
"That was a cheapest way for me," Junior Roberts, who is coming back from a business trip, told CTV News Toronto. He flew into Buffalo and took a taxi to the border.
He said the process is smooth.
"You got to take a COVID test," he said. “And you have to take another one in eight days."
There is a steady flow of taxis who cross, and drive right up to the COVID testing site for those who are arriving. Once the test is complete, travellers are free to enter the country, and it is all perfectly legal.
The current rules for land border crossing are that travellers must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test when arriving into Canada. They are tested at the border. They are given another test to be take 8 days after arrival, and they must isolate for 14 days.
Only travellers who arrive in Canada by air are required to stay in a government approved quarantine facility.
After a week in Florida, Roberts can't help but comment that life is different south of the border.
"Everything's not shut down," he says. "You see a little more happiness over there I'll just say."
