Gamechanging news from Air Canada Monday that it’s partnering with Switch Health to offer returning Canadians self-test COVID-19 kits couldn’t be more timely.
That’s because only Friday, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, put a damper on the enthusiastic response to Ottawa’s moves to help rekindle travel.
The federal government quietly lifted its travel advisory against non-essential travel for fully vaccinated Canadians on Friday, and revealed vaccine passport rollout plans for international travel.
But, according to Tam, that doesn’t give Canadians carte blanche when it comes to restarting travel.
"Now is not the time to just freely go wherever," she told reporters at a media conference. "The pandemic is very much alive. There are definitely still risks involved in travel.”
The lifting of the advisory against all non-essential travel was not a “blanket” license to go. Rather, fully vaccinated Canadians, she said, should still assess the risk of the pandemic in any destination before deciding to travel.
And she added that Ottawa is providing Canadians more information about the risk levels in different destinations (as many other countries, including the CDC in the U.S. and the UK government with its ‘traffic light’ risk assessment system, do now.)
When the government of Canada’s web site was quietly updated Friday with the revised travel advisory for Canadians, it also now shows advisories country by country.
Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public health officer, also chimed in. "We know that the situation is not the same in all parts of the world,” he said.
He advised Canadians to factor in the vaccination levels in the destination, as well as the local “culture” of risk protection, including mask-wearing, as well as the activities a traveller plans. More distanced, outdoor activities entail less risk of the virus to a traveller and so should be weighed in the balance of the overall assessment of whether a traveller should visit a particular destination.
PCR Test Requirements Sticking Around
The continued risk of contracting the virus while abroad is also why Dr. Tam says the Canadian government will continue to require PCR - rather than easier and less expensive antigen tests - from returning Canadians.
Global News notes that “Boards of trade, chambers of commerce and tourism organizations, both in the United States and Canada, have been calling on the federal government to drop their requirement for proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test between countries.”
But those entreaties are falling on deaf ears in Ottawa - at least for now.
Reiterating that “the pandemic is very much alive outside of Canada,” Tam said the PCR tests add “a layer of protection for any traveller – not just Canadians coming into Canada but travellers from any corners of the world.”
She pointed out that, “many countries continue to require a pre-departure test” for travellers returning home. However, for example, the U.S. requires only cheaper, easier antigen tests for its air arrivals.
That position from Canada’s public health agency officials makes Air Canada’s new self-test kits - that include molecular tests that will satisfy current, stricter Canadian border pre-departure testing requirements without having to source a local lab at often exhorbitant prices - even more crucial to a smooth, easy-to-navigate return to travel for Canadians in the coming months.
