With 7 out of 8 residents having at least one coronavirus vaccination and the rate of spread in the nation simmering at a low pace, Canada is lifting some of the restrictions put in place to help fight the spread of the virus during the pandemic, the Associated Press reports.
Data show 83% of Canadians are fully vaccinated, allowing the Transportation Ministry to lift the requirement for wearing masks on planes. (By comparison, just 68% of Americans are fully vaccinated ’cause freedum.) Canada will also no longer require Canadians reentering the country after foreign travel to prove they are vaccinated, nor will they conduct random Covid tests to people entering the country.
“The removal of border measures has been facilitated by a number of factors, including modelling that indicates that Canada has largely passed the peak of the Omicron BA.4- and BA.5-fuelled wave, Canada’s high vaccination rates, lower hospitalization and death rates, as well as the availability and use of vaccine boosters (including new bivalent formulation), rapid tests, and treatments for COVID-19,” the government said in a release.