LILLEY: Ford cites borders as issue again and he’s not wrong

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It’s an odd comment to make while talking about your decision to not reopen schools for in-person learning, but there was Ontario Premier Doug Ford talking about borders.

Ford cited borders and a lack of proper controls as one of the reasons for not putting kids back in the classroom.

“I implore the federal government to tighten up the borders,” Ford said.

As much as I would have liked to see schools reopen, actually, everything reopen, Ford isn’t wrong about the borders being a problem. I’ve been saying this from the beginning of the pandemic, but the Trudeau Liberals in Ottawa have been denying there is an issue for just as long.

Consider this: The B.1.617 variant first found in India and now called the Delta variant will be the dominant strain of COVID-19 within the month for Peel Region, according to medical officer Dr. Lawrence Loh.

“Preliminary analysis from the science table suggests that in one month the Delta variant will be the dominant strain in our region with the rest of Ontario weeks behind,” Loh said.

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Loh said that this variant is more transmissible than the so-called Alpha variant first found in the U.K. That’s the one that has driven the third wave we’ve been going through in Ontario and the Delta variant could result in a fourth wave if it peaks before vaccinations take hold.

These cases didn’t swim here; they didn’t walk here. They didn’t magically appear here; they came through travel.

Anyone thinking that we are too far along in vaccinations to see another surge needs to look at what is happening in the U.K. with the Delta/Indian variant.

This is a country with just as high a percentage of the population as Canada receiving one dose and nearly 40% getting two doses — compared to our 5%. Yet despite this, and stricter border screening measures, they are looking at the start of a third wave of COVID in the U.K.

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When I wrote about this issue on Monday morning, the seven-day case average in the U.K. was up 26.3%, but now it is up 34.7% with case numbers not seen in close to two months. True, there are fewer deaths with just two to three per day, but deaths are a lagging indicator of the effects of COVID.

Cases are spiking with a new variant, and we are just a few weeks behind them.

Still, the Trudeau government doesn’t see any need to improve what they continue to say are among the “most stringent” border measures in the world. A report last Friday by their own expert review panel showed the holes in our system, including lax quarantine measures.

But the government isn’t acting and the rest of the media is silent on this issue.

You likely heard that this report called for ending the COVID hotels but nothing of the problems with testing and quarantine enforcement.

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The report stated that if COVID hotels are done away with, then border officials must ensure that people entering the country have a suitable quarantine plan. That isn’t happening at the moment and neither is proper screening.

As the federal government’s own expert panel pointed out, 33% of people who entered by air in the time period they studied did not submit a second test once at home. Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows that at least 27% of air travellers who test positive do so on the second test.

These are the kinds of problems that we need to fix. We need real screening, proper enforcement of quarantine, and an end to Trudeau’s charade of having the strongest border measures in the world.

If we don’t fix these problems, it could threaten all of Ontario’s reopening and even a return to school in the fall. That’s not something any of us want.