Two Rossland seniors were fined $3,450 by police last week after crossing back into the country at a U.S.-Canada border without presenting proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
RCMP received a request from the Canadian Border Services Agency to issue a violation ticket on Friday (March 26), according to Sgt. Mike Wicentowich.
It is alleged that an 82-year-old man and a woman, 68, crossed into the U.S. and then returned to Canada within a day. The agencies say the pair did this without presenting proof of a mandatory negative COVID-19 screening test, as mandated under the Quarantine Act.
“The man and woman had a similar previous incident in which the Trail RCMP took an educational approach,” Wicentowich says. “The Trail RCMP issued a warning as the man and woman had obtained a COVID-19 vaccine while in the USA and were reportedly abiding by the self-isolation period upon return,” he said.
The man and woman have been fined $3,450.
Writing up the seniors came just days before the B.C. government formally extended the provincial state of emergency, “allowing health and emergency management officials to continue to use extraordinary powers under the Emergency Program Act (EPA) to support the province’s COVID-19 pandemic response.”
The state of emergency is extended through the end of the day on April 13.
The extension is based on recommendations from B.C.’s health and emergency management officials. The original declaration was made on March 18, 2020, the day after provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry declared a public health emergency.
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