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US-Canada bridge reopens, ending weeklong trucker protest over COVID mandates;other developments

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The bridge linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, was open for traffic Monday after a week of angry protests against COVID-19 mandates that had shut down the largest border crossing between the U.S. and Canada.

"The Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and U.S. economies once again,” Detroit International Bridge Co. said in a statement late Sunday. Traffic began rolling across the bridge shortly before midnight.

The "Freedom Convoy" was led by truckers on the Canadian side of the border, but on Friday a judge ordered the protest disbanded. Canadian authorities swept in Saturday and removed most of the trucks and protesters. About a dozen protesters who defied the order were arrested Sunday when the last vehicles blocking the bridge were towed away.

Protesters, who have created havoc at the capital in Ottawa for three weeks, say they object to Canada's COVID-19 rules. Truckers calling themselves the Freedom Convoy are opposing a mandate requiring drivers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements.

The protests in Canada have inspired similar demonstrations in a several countries, from Paris to Auckland, New Zealand.

Other developments include:

►Japan is considering easing its stringent border controls amid growing criticism that the measures, which have banned most foreign entrants including students and business travelers, are hurting the country's economy and international profile.

►Walmart will no longer require fully vaccinated workers to wear masks while working in stores unless mandated by local or state rules.

 
 

 -- Hong Kong will begin vaccinating children as young as 3 years old to combat a record surge of infections. In the U.S., the minimum age is 5. Authorities in Hong Kong confirmed a record 2,071 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the most in a single day since the pandemic began. That number could more than double Tuesday as another 4,500 people tested preliminary-positive.

The city’s medical and quarantine capacity has been overloaded, forcing hospitals to reserve isolation wards for children, the elderly, and patients with serious symptoms, the Hong Kong Free Press reported.

-- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's requirement that workers in high-risk settings get the COVID-19 vaccine – and a booster shot, when they're eligible – survived a legal challenge Friday when a state appellate court dismissed a bid by New Jersey's largest police union to block the mandate. ...

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