BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Dual-citizen Sarah Graham has not seen her family in 131 days. That's because in March, the United States and Canadian governments closed the U.S./CANADIAN border.
“90% of my family live in Canada," Graham said. "My dad, my mom, and my brothers are the only ones who live in the states. And not in New York.”
Graham says her dad and brother are in Florida and her mom is in North Carolina.
Both states are currently on New York State’s mandatory quarantine list, forcing graham to face this global pandemic alone.
“If something, God forbid, were to happen to me, my family could not come across to even check in on me. My family cannot even come up from out of the other states.”
Graham says she's, "Just stuck over here.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. and Canadian governments decided to extend the border closure until August 21.
“It’s sad. I’m missing out on stuff. My baby cousin gets married in September and at this point in time, I’m probably not gonna be at his wedding.”
In order to get into Canada, Graham must quarantine for two weeks, but as an essential worker, she can’t afford to do that. So she’s asking a question.
“What is the plan? I get that they keep just extending the closure but what are they doing to decrease things," she asked. "I wanna go see my family. Is there any discussion yet of how to open or how to do it safely?”
According to Congressman Higgins the border will remain closed until COVID cases in the U.S. trend downwards.
"We need to be doing better at keeping this under control and I don’t think the population is taking that seriously enough,” Graham said.
