These dumb calls to open the border -
a) we're not losing billions due to the border closure, we're losing it due to COVID - you think tourists & students are going to come here in their former numbers just because we open the borders given the state of the world? dreaming...

b) we're told we need better and more efficient systems at the border - but the quarantine period isn't due to slow processes - it's the time needed to be highly confident whether a person is infected or not. You can't make that faster...

c) and if you open the borders without isolation/quarantine, you'll let lots of COVID in. Based on current prevalence in arrivals, even a few thousand arrivals a day would equal dozens of cases a day - no way we stop spread from that many origin points....

d) so the cost benefit just does not stack up. If we get say 30% of intl tourism/students back, it's $6b a year, but we import hundreds of COVID cases a week - it rapidly overwhelms any possible contact tracing and leads to mass outbreaks, deaths, lockdowns. Not worth it...

So - when will it make economic sense to open borders? When the countries we want to open them with have beaten COVID like we have. Until then, bringing in tourists who spend a few thousand dollars each here, and students who don't spend much more isn't worth the COVID cost