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Safer skies
Airlines in Danada receive government recommendation to modify mandatory quarantine
Boeing 737-800
Air Transat
CC BY-SA 2.0
Rafael Ramos
6/2/2021
A report by Canada's public health council, published May 27, says the country's 14-day quarantine rule is ineffective and flawed, as Canadians returning from travel from other countries often choose to for paying fines rather than complying with government-imposed isolation requirements. “These travelers may or may not adhere to quarantine,” the report states.
In effect since January, the government-imposed quarantine requires all passengers arriving in the country to be isolated for 14 days, with the first three days being at a government-authorized facility paid for by the user. As long as the covid test result does not come out, they can return home, but must remain quarantined for the remainder of the period.
"There are significant administrative costs and resources devoted to managing hotel quarantine that cannot be used for other issues related to pandemic response," said the country's health council. In addition to this, the council says: “Due to costs and the reality that land and air border measures are not currently aligned (land travelers are not required to go through the mandatory hotel quarantine), some travelers are landing in airports from the US and crossing into Canada by land” and that three-day hotel quarantine is “inconsistent with the incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 [the virus behind covid]”.
Bombardier Dash 8 da Air Canada
Johnnyw3, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What the report recommends is not an end to quarantine, which is still badly needed, but better screening, easing restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers and, for unvaccinated travelers, a seven-day quarantine along with SAR-CoV-2 testing . The text also states that the rules should vary depending on the country from which travelers are arriving.
The country's airlines are in favor of what the report says, like WestJet, which says that “in the last 15 months, WestJet has requested science-based travel advice and this report represents a responsible way forward,” the president said. -executive, Ed Sims. “These findings are evidence-based recommendations that are proportionate and reduce risk.
The National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation and WestJet, says the recommendations are in line with policy measures in other countries.
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Rafael Ramos
Aviation enthusiast from an early age, he had his first contacts with the area developing that good old habit of spending dozens of hours in front of the screens of Micrsoft Flight Simulator and other simulators. With a solid background in various technological areas, including engineering and chemistry, Rafael has rejoined aviation as editor and author of articles and materials on our portal, providing invaluable help to the dynamics and expansion of the website and the aeronautical community, bringing us the news and updates so indispensable for us to remain current in our area of operation.
   
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