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US Expats in Canada Worry About Family Back Home

Jay Heisler

   HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA - While the COVID-19 pandemic rages in the United
   States, Canada has seen a dramatic decline in cases, making the U.S.
   health crisis particularly upsetting to American expatriates enjoying
   the relative safety afforded in Canada.

   "This has all hit so hard, and it's distressing to see what everyone is
   going through," said Derek Brett, a lawyer who once worked on American
   political campaigns. Now a Canadian citizen, Brett lives and works in
   the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

   Brett said his sister in Florida works for a long-term care facility
   and was diagnosed with COVID-19 but has recovered and returned to work.

   "My mother in particular has been in a COVID lockdown for 150 days in
   her home. It doesn't seem like there is going to be a relief in the
   foreseeable future," he said, adding he is lucky to be in Canada. "I
   feel secure. I'm happy for my family here in Nova Scotia where we go
   for days without any cases."

   In Canada's remote, sparsely populated Atlantic region, cases are so
   rare that the four easternmost provinces -- Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
   Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island -- have formed a
   "travel bubble." Residents of these provinces may visit the other three
   without self-quarantining for two weeks, unlike visitors from the rest
   of Canada, who are required to self-isolate as if coming from abroad.

   Meanwhile, the Canadian-U.S. border is closed to nonessential travel.

   "We would like to plan a trip back to the U.S. to see family," said
   Michelle Sinville about herself and her husband, Geoffrey Sinville.
   "But not until the border is open and the virus is under control."

   From New Hampshire originally, Sinville now lives in Dartmouth, Nova
   Scotia, where she is a pharmaceutical industry consultant.

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