‘Good politics, not great epidemiology’: Ottawa’s new COVID-19 travel rules are a disaster, experts say

OTTAWA – As COVID-19 cases worldwide increase and evidence of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant increases, frustration is mounting over the federal government’s attempts to keep the virus outside of Canada’s borders.

Since Ottawa imposed its most recent travel ban, along with new quarantine tests and rules, confusion has plagued passengers at domestic and foreign airports.

Travelers stranded abroad and those about to leave have joined Facebook groups, asking for clarity on which rules they should follow, amid questions about why tough new restrictions have been imposed in some countries but not in others.

On Twitter, airlines have repeatedly turned to the federal government when faced with nervous customers seeking help.

The federal government, in turn, continues to target its website, which contains incomplete information.

Even cabinet ministers didn’t seem to be able to get their message across: On Monday, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters that Canada was trying to “buy” more time to learn about Omicron, while Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra told CBC Radio the next morning that the country was working quickly on its approach.

The fighting echoes the early days of the pandemic, something experts say could have troubling consequences nearly two years after the crisis.

“We are at this point where people are already fed up and fatigued. Even some of the basic measures we’ve asked people to, like masking indoors, trying to reduce social contacts, it’s very difficult to maintain that right now, ”said Dr. Susy Hota, Medical Director of Infections. prevention and control in the University of Toronto Health Network.

“If you lose people’s attention because a problem becomes really confusing and communications are not clear … we lose those same people because of other things that are important to communicate during the appearance of a new variant.”

Much of the confusion began last week, when Ottawa banned foreign nationals who had recently traveled to 10 African countries from entering Canada.

The decision to ban some travelers but not others makes little sense given the rapid nature of Omicron’s spread, said Steven Hoffman, director of the Global Strategy Laboratory and a former project manager at the World Health Organization.

“The border closures are also great policy, because they emphasize that this threat is coming from outside the country and blaming others, rather than blaming a country’s public health response to the challenge,” Hoffman told the Star.

Your assessment of the strategy? “Good politics, not great epidemiology.”

Suddenly Canadians trying to leave those 10 countries were required to have a negative molecular test result for COVID-19, and be tested in a third country, before returning home.

“That does not seem to be a reasonable policy. Why can’t they have a PCR test where they are? “said Dr. Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

“If they come here and if they come from a country with a lot of Omicron, then they could be evaluated here.”

(Travelers leaving South Africa got a slight respite on Saturday, with a temporary exemption allowing them to be tested there rather than in a third country. Health Canada told the Star the exemption will be extended or revoked based on national epidemiology. and international.)

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Alghabra streamlined the measure as creating a “buffer” between travelers’ departures and arrivals in Canada, to ensure a more accurate test result.

But even for travelers entering Canada from countries that are not on the prohibited list (other than the United States), the rules can be nebulous.

The Canadian Public Health Agency’s arrival plans for vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers, which include an arrival test, different quarantine periods and follow-up tests, are not yet fully operational.

“The government is steadily increasing the number of fully vaccinated travelers being tested to reach 100% operational capacity in the coming weeks,” Health Canada said in an emailed statement.

Travelers are still unclear on where they get the tests, how many need to be completed, and how long they need to stay in quarantine, which depends on where they come from and their vaccination status.

Additionally, the government of Canada travel website notes that anyone who can show proof of a positive COVID-19 test result taken between 14 and 180 days prior to departure is exempt from any proof of arrival. But Health Canada contradicted that in its statement to the Star, saying that travelers arriving from banned countries should be tested, even if they previously tested positive.

“We are seeing some initial evidence that reinfections in South Africa may occur more frequently with Omicron, two to three times more than we have seen with other variants,” Hota said.

“Just because you’ve had a previous infection doesn’t mean you’re completely immune to an Omicron infection,” he said, adding that at the very least, those passengers should be asked to isolate themselves since tests from recovered people can sometimes yield unreliable results.

Banerji says governments have faced a difficult task creating new rules and having to implement them.

“I think it is a challenge for any government to make policies with so much uncertainty and many unknowns. I would say that it is really important … to stick to the evidence and science rather than an emotional response. ”