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How To Get Into Canada

In the Covid era, it takes a little planning

Paul Greenberg
4 min readNov 19, 2021
Photo: Paul Greenberg

Last week, I left the United States for the first time in two years. I’d been invited to give a talk about my book Four Fish at Montreal’s Concordia University. But when the organizers suggested I do the event virtually, I declared, “je refuse!”

I am done with zoom talks. Instead I made a run for the border.

Crossing into Canada though, isn’t as simple as hopping in your car and heading north. In the COVID era it takes a little prep. So if you’re thinking about a Canadian idyll this holiday season here’s what I learned on my brief jaunt to the Great White North.

1) You need to show proof of a negative PCR test within 72 hours of your crossing the border into Canada. A typical rapid test done at home will not be accepted. These tests typically take 24–72 hours to process so you have to time this out carefully. I planned to cross the border around Thursday at noon, so I scheduled my test for as close to 72 hours as possible so I’d just barely squeak in under the Canadian window but also get my test back in time.

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Paul Greenberg
Paul Greenberg

Written by Paul Greenberg

New York Times bestselling author of Four Fish as well as The Climate Diet and Goodbye Phone, Hello World paulgreenberg.org

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