News that U.S. and Canadian officials are leaning toward extending the closure of their border to travel through the end of July drew worried comments from North Country officials.

Canadian tourism is massively important to the northern New York economy, especially in the summer season. James McKenna, head of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism based in Lake Placid, commented on that Thursday.

he said.

Reuters news agency reported this week that Canada and the U.S. expect to extend the closure of their shared border until late July, citing three anonymous sources who said that while the governments had not yet made a final decision, The closure, which began in March, is currently scheduled to expire June 21.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, who represents northern New York in Congress, penned a letter along with Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Canadian minister of public safety on Friday, asking for for when and how to reopen the border. They said the current

Stefanik and Higgins are co-chairs of the House of Representatives Northern Border Caucus.

they wrote.

Garry Douglass, head of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, called Stefanik and Higgins’ letter a In a prepared statement Friday, he mourned the extended border closure in a more emotional vein.

Douglas wrote. “It is increasingly tearing at a unique and special social fabric, and the longer it continues the more we will be at risk of having normalized the extremely abnormal.

Earlier this week, Canada announced that it would loosen restrictions to let in people reuniting with spouses, parents and dependent children, but they have to be under quarantine for 14 days after entering Canada.

The border closure does not block what is considered which includes trade, medical travel, people going to work or educational institutions they attend, people returning to their home countries, emergency response crews and military.