OTTAWA—Canadian officials are reviewing the country’s land border policies as COVID-19 continues to spread across the United States, the union representing border guards says.

Jean-Pierre Fortin, the national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, told the Star Wednesday that his members’ immediate concern is more support from Health Canada at the country’s major airports — including Toronto’s Pearson International.

But Fortin said there are currently no Health Canada officials at major land crossings, and the government is reviewing its land border crossing policies as Canada’s closest neighbour struggles to contain the virus.

“At airports, our folks are wearing gloves, they’re wearing the N-95 masks, they’re wearing also glasses to protect themselves. But these measures are not in place at land borders at this time,” Fortin said.

Fortin said the spread of COVID-19 across the U.S. “puts more pressure” on his members.

“They’re watching the news like anyone else,” Fortin said.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had already put in place “enhanced” screening for travellers crossing at land, rail or ferry on March 5 — for instance, referring those who recently travelled to Iran or who are ill for additional screening.

The CBSA refused to confirm it is reviewing policies regarding land border crossings, referring questions to the Public Health Agency of Canada. The health authority did not respond to specific questions. A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who is responsible for CBSA, did not immediately provide comment.

But in a morning press conference Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that with hundreds of thousands of people crossing the border every day, the U.S. is “a real potential vector of transmission.”

“We continue to engage extremely regularly with our counterparts in the United States to ensure that we are handling as best we can the spread of this virus,” Trudeau told reporters in the National Press Theatre.

“We will continue to monitor, to co-ordinate to ensure that what we are doing has as minimal impact both on Canadians’ health but also on the growth of our economy (as possible).”

The Trump administration has faced criticism over its handling of COVID-19 testing and treatment, with the president himself repeatedly seeming to downplay the significance of what the World Health Organization now calls a pandemic.

As of Sunday evening 34 states, as well as New York City and Washington D.C., had reported more than 500 cases of COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC said more than half of those cases were in California and Washington.

On Tuesday, Michigan— which shares one of the busiest border crossing points with Canada — declared a state of emergency despite only having two confirmed cases.

But those numbers are expected to rise dramatically as the virus spreads.

“It’s fair to say that as the trajectory of the outbreak continues, many people in the United States will at some point in time either this year or next be exposed to this virus and there’s a good chance many will become sick,” said Nancy Messonnier, the director of CDC’s immunization and respiratory disease centre, in a Tuesday press conference.

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In a statement, CBSA said they have already stepped up screening at land ports of entry, including the “identification and interception” of travellers who recently visited coronavirus hot spots.

“Enhanced measures are being implement … based on the evolution of COVID-19 and the increasing number of cases occurring outside of mainland China as well as recognizing that a number of travellers who eventually seek entry into Canada arrive in the U.S. first, initially,” the agency said in a statement.

Fortin, whose union represents more than 10,000 border officials, said his members would like to see increased support at Canada’s major airports.

“The problem we’re seeing right now is there’s two or three people (from Health Canada) at each major airports … We would like to have more of these detection officers,” Fortin told the Star.

“Our folks, even though they’re doing a very good job in trying to screen people … you can well imagine at those major airports the thousands of people crossing at major airports. So we don’t think there’s a sufficient amount of health officers assisting us.”

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