Despite the fact that, appearances to the contrary, Canada seems to be dealing reasonably well with the the pandemic, at least compared to many other countries, there is still much that could have been, and still can be, improved on.
One such thing is to clamp down on international travel. The countries that have really done well - think Taiwan, South Korea, Australia - are those that introduced strict, even draconian, measures to restrict travellers entering the country, and, when people do enter, for legitimate essential purposes, they are tested, quarantined, traced and generally made uncomfortably conscious of their responsibilities.
Canada has imposed no such restrictions until just this week, when anyone flying into Canada must show proof of a negative PCR test result; otherwise, they will not be allowed to board the plane, whether their flight is for essential purposes or not. Once arrived in Canada, all passengers, wherever they are arriving from, will need to show evidence of a pre-arranged 14 day quarantine plan; otherwise, they will be placed in a federal quarantine facility for the 14 days. (The announcement further rules that federal quarantine facility will also be used for anyone coming from a country that does not offer PCR tests, although just how that squares with the requirement for a PCR test before boarding, I don't know).
It still seems very strange to me that: 1) Canada has come so belatedly to this realization, and 2) that we are letting anyone at all into the country if they don't have a very specific and very essential purpose. Why are we allowing tourists in, for example, from anywhere at all? Hell, we are even opening the country up to travellers from the UK, of all places. Why are airlines aggressively marketing overseas beach holidays at the same time as we are being told by our governments to shelter in place and not leave our local area, never mind our country? Talk about cognitive dissonance! But don't expect airlines to put the public good before profitability (or, as they would probably describe it, survival).
And it's not just international flights that are being under-policed. Thousands of truck drivers each day drive over the border from the States, and they are inexplicably exempt from testing and quarantine rules. I'm sure most of them are on official essential business, but there is no monitoring at all, and no requirement for a negative test. We are inviting in thousands of people from COVID Ground Zero, and we have no idea how many of them are infected. At the very least, we should be insisting that truck drivers be tested regularly before they cross the border.
Yes, we need to pay attention to community spread of the pandemic. But all our efforts will be wasted if we keep allowing people to import new sources of the virus - including more virulent strains - from abroad, just because some people feel that they are owed a holiday.
UPDATE
This isn't getting any better. Just this week, three packed flights of holidaymakers from Haiti flew into Montreal with so many COVID cases that all the passengers on all three flights were advised to quarantine (Haiti lacks testing ability, and so is exempted from Canada's new requirements). And this is not an isolated case, just an example. Some airlines are also reporting that a "significant number" of passengers are testing positive on arriving in Canada even from countries where testing is required before flying. Clearly, not all testing is created equal.
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