Six things Canadian snowbirds should know about going south again

Deerfield Beach
The beach at Deerfield Beach, Florida February 2020. (Ellin Bessner photo).

It’s only July, but in a normal year, many of Canada’s one million “snowbirds” would have long made their plans by now to spend their vacations in the sun in Florida, California, Arizona and more.

However, the U.S. government’s recent announcement that the land border between the two countries is remaining closed until at least August 21, has left many Canadians anxious.

According to the Canadian Snowbird Association, a lobby group representing 100,000 members who spend all or part of the winter south of the border, most snowbirds drive their own cars down south.

Adding to the anxiety is worry about the current surge in COVID-19 cases in Florida and several West Coast states.

The CJN Daily podcast host Ellin Bessner spoke to Evan Rachkovsky, director of communications for the Canadian Snowbird Association, about the outlook for the winter of 2021.

Evan Rachkovsky
Evan Rachkovsky, director of communications, Canadian Snowbird Association. (Submitted photo.)

Q. What is the main issue you are hearing about from your members right now?

A. What we’re hearing is with the Biden administration, they’re obviously looking at [COVID] cases both in Mexico and Canada. They’ve kind of connected the border agreement to both countries. So they’re hesitant at this point to allow Canadians to enter by vehicle. But at the same time, Canadians have been permitted to enter the U.S. by air since March of 2020. They never put any restrictions in for people that were flying in. So a lot of our members, they’re curious in terms of when the actual land border is going to open again. It’s kind of causing some hesitancy in terms of them being able to make the appropriate scheduling and plans and preparations for their trip down south. But obviously this is something that we’re monitoring quite closely. We’re optimistic that the land border will be open by the fall of 2021. Likely it will happen sooner than that. I would be surprised if it did extend beyond the August 21 deadline, which is currently the last time they renewed that agreement.

Q. What other problems are snowbirds worried about?

A. Another issue for snowbirds, of course, is travel insurance: them purchasing their travel insurance during an early bird period where they can get particular discounts. So that’s something obviously that’s top of mind for them. And obviously dealing with the pandemic, the situation is quite fluid.

Q. Right. Last week Florida’s positivity rate was over 15 per cent, and hospitals are filling up with mainly unvaccinated patients who’ve come down with COVID. The governor Ron DeSantis won’t order mandatory mask wearing, nor a lockdown.

A. So I do believe that there is some hesitancy on the part of certain snowbirds, but I would say that the vast majority of snowbirds and even the 30 per cent of Canadians that did end up making the trip down south [last year] had told me they had stayed largely within their community. They had limited their interactions. They did all the social distancing, the hand washing, all of those kinds of things. And then again, most of them ended up getting vaccinated down south as well. So, again, there are measures… and seeing protocols that they can follow themselves despite what is happening, you know, at the state level in Florida.

Obviously, most of the snowbirds go to Florida, but Arizona is a very popular destination as well as California, and we’re hearing very much the same things there, as well. In California, [we saw] the reintroduction of the mask mandate. So obviously, states are choosing to handle the pandemic differently, obviously, with the resurgence of the Delta variant. So that’s obviously something people are going to have to look at before they end up deciding whether or not to make the trip down south this season.

Q. How will folks who were vaccinated in the U.S. have it accepted by their provincial health departments, especially if, as Quebec recently announced, vaccination passports will be required in the fall.

A. Most provinces now do have a system in place where you can contact the local public health unit and you can get into contact with them. And they’re able to, for example, in Ontario, register that vaccine that was received abroad in the COVAXOn system. Quebec actually was one of the front runners on this issue, and they got ahead of this very early in Quebec: you just have to make an appointment at one of the vaccination clinics. They have a few that are designated for this purpose, specifically. And basically it gets registered. You get an email confirmation. Obviously, it would have to be a Health Canada approved vaccine, that they would have to have received. But most provinces have those systems in place now, which we’re glad to hear. The issue that we’re seeing in Ontario is there’s a bit of a disconnect in terms of miscommunication between the public health units and the Ontario government. People obviously would have to contact their public health unit to see what the situation is. But not every public health unit in Ontario was actually geared up to do this. At this time, it may take a few more weeks for them to do it, but eventually they will have the system in place where they will recognize the vaccine that was received in the United States.

Q. Will the Canadians who were vaccinated at home with different mixtures have any trouble in the U.S.? Specifically, those who had the first dose of AstraZeneca, and the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer?

A. So in terms of entry to the U.S., that’s not a problem, at least at this point in time. People have been flying to Florida back and forth since the beginning of the pandemic and even at this point in time, it isn’t necessary for that. Whether the U.S. government moves ahead and requires a vaccine or proof of vaccination? That remains to be seen. But what we have noticed is you have certain service providers like cruise ships, for example, where that may be an issue. So obviously they need to contact the service provider, in this case, the cruise line, ahead of time just to ensure what their rules are. Because we are hearing some things about people with mixed doses of vaccination, having some issues in terms of booking, or being able to actually get onto those cruise ships at this point.

Q. You’ve been working on some non-pandemic related issues such as trying to extend the length of time Canadian retirees can spend in the U.S. from the current six months less a day in a single year. Can you update the situation for us?

A. What we’re doing and what we’re working on down south is we have a bill currently in the U.S. Senate which would actually increase the amount of time that retired Canadians can spend in the U.S. every year. We’re waiting on a House version, a House equivalent or companion bill, to be introduced, as well. But we do have the Senate bill, which was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio [Republican Senator for Florida] a few weeks ago. So we are happy about that. And hopefully, again, we can get more support on Capitol Hill for that legislation, and that would extend the amount of time they could be in the U.S. from six to eight months every year.

This interview was edited and condensed.