Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

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Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by avcanada »

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-cana ... De6VK3QHEg
The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Marc Garneau, is requiring that, effective January 7, 2021, at 12:01 a.m. EST, all air passengers five years of age or older will be required to test negative for COVID-19 before travelling from another country to Canada. This implementation date provides all airlines, both foreign and domestic, adequate time to comply with the new requirements.

Documentation of a negative laboratory test result must be presented to the airline prior to boarding a flight to Canada. The test must be performed using a COVID-19 molecular polymerase chain reaction (or PCR) test and must be taken within 72 hours prior to the traveller’s scheduled departure to Canada.

Anyone who receives a negative test result and is authorized to enter Canada must still complete the full, mandatory 14-day quarantine.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by mmm..bacon »

Wouldn't it be better to take people directly from their flight to a 'quarantine hotel', and not let them out until they pass a PCR test here? That way, airport hotels get a guaranteed clientele for a number of days, and Canadian testing labs get an economic boost also..
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Human Factor »

Band-aid solution. Like a person who received a negative test couldn't catch the virus during the 72 hours after the fact.... not to mention that the PCR test seemingly coughs up (pardon the pun) more false positives than actual ones....

If he wanted to be serious about it, he'd pull a New Zealand and fully close the borders for X amount of time, full stop.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by schnitzel2k3 »

It's too late, we've dragged this out for too long and failed to make the hard choice. That would've needed to happen back in March - April with an extremely aggressive approach to testing and quarantining for travellers once community cases dropped to zero.

Didn't help the U.S dropped the ball hard regarding this as well, and in many ways dumped fuel on the preverbial pandemic fire.

This is the way.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by avcanada »

Violating any instructions provided when you enter Canada is an offence under the Quarantine Act and could lead to up to six months in prison and/or $750,000 in fines.
Is there an end date proposed?
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by JasonE »

Band-aid at best.

I could imagine in some places it might be difficult to get test results back within 72 hrs as well.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by sanjet »

This is a solid distraction to the mediocre vaccination program the government had months to prepare for. What a clown show.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by RedAndWhiteBaron »

I must say this seems utterly stupid to me. You're lucky to even get a PCR test back in 72 hours here. Aside from that, unless you're isolating in those 72 hours, it means very little. It makes emergency travel almost impossible (say perhaps, for a funeral). And it does nothing to help air carriers or our tourism industry, as there's still a mandatory 14 day quarantine.

And after all that, this assumes that a reliable, Health Canada approved PCR test is available at all where you're coming from, let alone in the timeframe allowed.

We should be testing people on arrival at the airport, not this crap.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Eric Janson »

The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Marc Garneau, is requiring that, effective January 7, 2021, at 12:01 a.m. EST, all air passengers five years of age or older will be required to test negative for COVID-19 before travelling from another country to Canada. This implementation date provides all airlines, both foreign and domestic, adequate time to comply with the new requirements.

Documentation of a negative laboratory test result must be presented to the airline prior to boarding a flight to Canada. The test must be performed using a COVID-19 molecular polymerase chain reaction (or PCR) test and must be taken within 72 hours prior to the traveller’s scheduled departure to Canada.

Anyone who receives a negative test result and is authorized to enter Canada must still complete the full, mandatory 14-day quarantine.
This is the new normal - enjoy! :roll: :roll:

PCR tests can be done in as little as 6 hours. I've been doing them the day before I am scheduled to travel and have the results before my flight. A lot of European Airports have testing facilities within the airport.

14 day Quarantine is pretty standard in most countries - basically one way travel only.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by montado »

Of all the policies created surrounding covid this one actually makes more sense. Yes it’s inconvenient. However this will give people more confidence to get on a plane. This should have been done months ago. The only thing really stupid about it is how long it took to make this happen.

But let’s not kid ourselves we aren’t frying the big fish with this. This policy would probably not put a dent in cases in a noticeable way. The vaccine is here and summer is coming, those two things alone will take all my credit when cases start to fall.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Rockie »

This is the perfect government initiative if their goal was to kill international travel while creating the illusion of protecting public health without actually doing so. I don't think that was their goal though, I think they simply got caught with their pants down around their ankles by a completely predictable situation. Then they were forced to institute a thoughtless, kneejerk policy that does far more harm than good, and followed it up with this ridiculous measure to actually pay people $1000 to stay at home after defying international travel recommendations. It's like they sit around the coffee table playing cards all day and then just before quitting time they spit out directives after thinking about it for 4 seconds.

Months ago they should have implemented a testing and follow up regime upon arrival in Canada that actually protects public health and opens the door a crack to safe international travel as other countries have done. Their failure to be more energetic and proactive regarding the transportation industry led directly to this farce.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Inverted2 »

Wow, a Rockie post I agree with. :rolleyes:
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by digits_ »

Soon we'll be seeing this in Canada as well: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2021/01/04 ... s-airport/

Hundreds of passengers tightly packed together, because the federal police was performing extra checks to make sure every passenger filled out their covid declaration form properly :lol: :rolleyes: :roll:
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by TheStig »

Rockie, well put. This is bad policy that would have been excusable in the Spring, it isn't acceptable this far along. It's a knee jerk reaction to criticism that does not follow scientific data or best practices from around the world.

Here is what IATA released:

https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2021-01-02/

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed deep frustration with Canada’s new COVID-19 testing requirement for all arriving air travelers due to come into effect as of 7 January 2021. While the industry for months has been calling for systematic testing to re-open borders without quarantine measures, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears, especially in Canada. Now, in a decision that can only be described as the ‘worst of both worlds’, the government is mandating that passengers provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within 72 hours before planned departure to Canada, while at the same time declining to lift existing travel restrictions and quarantine requirements.

It is both callous and impractical to impose this new requirement on travelers at such short notice. Moreover, it is completely unrealistic to mandate that airlines check passengers’ compliance with the new rule, as it cannot be the airline’s role to determine if a passenger tried their utmost to get tested or not.

Canada already has one the world’s most draconian COVID-19 border control regimes, including travel bans and quarantines. Even though COVID-19 testing is an internationally accepted risk-mitigation strategy, there are no plans to adjust the current 14-day quarantine rule nor eliminate the temperature checks airlines are required to perform on passengers wishing to travel to Canada. Moreover, no explanation has been provided as to why a PCR test is the only acceptable test, given that this is not readily available in many countries.

The severe economic consequences of the prolonged border closure are already evident. Latest estimates show that the aviation sector’s direct GDP contribution to Canada’s economy dropped by US$10.39 billion in 2020 vs 2019, placing some 146,000 Canadian jobs at risk. The year-on-year fall in GDP contribution to the wider travel and tourism economy is estimated at US$21.29 billion with some 286,000 jobs at risk.

Less measurable, but equally tragic is the impact that these tunnel-vision policies to close Canada off from the world are having on individuals separated from families or those struggling to cope with unemployment. Public health is the top priority. The efforts to contain COVID-19 must take full account of the detrimental impacts that closing borders and discouraging travel is having on the mental well-being of Canadians.

The way forward is through a well-planned and coordinated introduction of testing inbound travelers, as a replacement for quarantine measures. At current infection levels, testing travelers will ensure that opening borders will not pose additional risk of contagion in Canada. We challenge the government to prove otherwise.

In the meantime, it is incumbent on the Government of Canada to put this initiative on hold until it has defined:

Testing requirements and coordinated with the industry to achieve realistic implementation timelines;
A policy roadmap to safely re-open borders by managing the risk of contagion with testing as a replacement for quarantine measures
We need to start 2021 by taking steps to safely live with COVID-19. What is the point of implementing testing if it does not result in a lifting of border closures nor quarantine requirements? After nine-months of closed borders and confinement, we cannot afford to move in the wrong direction with the disastrous implementation of a counter-productive testing policy.

For more information:

Corporate Communications
Tel: +1 438-258-3155
Email: ruedigerm@iata.org
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Human Factor »

Untitled.jpeg
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by RRJetPilot »

Human Factor wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:46 am Untitled.jpeg
Funny there has been no documented or evidence of transmission on board aircraft. Another meme for the lowest common denominator of society. Post it on the CBC comments, they eat that shit up.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Human Factor »

RRJetPilot wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:19 am
Human Factor wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:46 am Untitled.jpeg
Funny there has been no documented or evidence of transmission on board aircraft. Another meme for the lowest common denominator of society. Post it on the CBC comments, they eat that shit up.
Just pointing out the hypocrisy and non-sensical approach that has been taken worldwide throughout the coronacircus... we're at the stage that the only logical thing to do is stop all of the insanity and just let the chips fall where they may. Many weak will die, most strong will survive, herd immunity will be achieved... natural selection has served our species well for hundreds of thousands of years, and will continue to if we let it.
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by GRK2 »

Oh dear God...So step right up and be the first to volunteer to take a bullet for the rest of us. Has anyone seen where they put that old Darwin Award? Here's a worthy applicant.

(Are you ok? Do you need a break from reading all the horse shyte that is out there?) :rolleyes:
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by ctmorawetz »

Has anyone travelled across the border since this rule came into effect? I will be travelling across the border as a Flight Crew Member and deadheading back and I'm curious how they have handled FCMs (as they are in theory exempt).
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Re: Pre-departure COVID-19 testing and negative results to be required for all air travelers coming to Canada

Post by Eric Janson »

ctmorawetz wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:19 am Has anyone travelled across the border since this rule came into effect? I will be travelling across the border as a Flight Crew Member and deadheading back and I'm curious how they have handled FCMs (as they are in theory exempt).
I position regularly to/from work. I need to show a negative PCR test at check-in otherwise I won't be allowed to fly. Suspect that will be the case in Canada as well.

Company organises this from work to home and I need to organise it when I'm at home.

Company pays all costs.

I was regularly quarantining for 14 days after an International flight. A negative PCR test on day 8 allows me to fly or position on our aircraft on day 11 but I still need to complete the 14 days quarantine every time.

I believe all crew PCR tests have been 100% negative but that has made zero difference to our quarantine requirements. One set of rules for everyone.
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