Ottawa is easing border rules as the proportion of infected travelers rises again on flights to Canada. The federal government speaks of a better “risk tolerance”, after having long justified its strict measures by the high rate of positive COVID-19 tests among travelers.
On January 25, when more vaccinated air travelers than ever learned on their arrival in the country that they had COVID-19, the federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, affirmed to “look carefully” at this indicator. to decide on the rules to be imposed at the borders.
“These rates continue to grow. Until these rates stabilize and begin to decrease, there will be no change in border policies, ”the minister announced at the microphone of Radio-Canada in Quebec.
However, several changes in border policies have taken place even as the positivity rate has started to rise again since the beginning of March, according to government data compiled by The duty.
Increase in the positivity rate
At least 3.27% of vaccinated air passengers who landed in Canada between April 10 and 16 were infected with the coronavirus, can we conclude from the results of random tests carried out on a sample of 25,000 of them . These data are partial, since other cases could still occur for this period.
Already, this rate is higher than that recorded during the trough of the week of March 6 (1.23%), and even higher than that in effect during the week of Christmas last December (2.32%). However, it is two and a half times lower than at the height of the wave of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant, in early January 2022 (8.65%).
It is also the moment chosen by the federal government to undertake a series of border easing measures. Starting with the lifting of the obligation of the only COVID-19 screening test which was required of travelers vaccinated until 1er April, the one to be made before departure. From now on, only randomly selected passengers must be tested on arrival, or those who are not adequately vaccinated.
As of Monday, vaccinated travelers are no longer required to provide a quarantine plan or follow a series of guidelines upon arrival, such as wearing a mask in public for two weeks. Unvaccinated children aged 5 to 11 are no longer required to show a negative screening test to board. However, the mask remains compulsory during transport, and passengers must still register on the ArriveCan application.
Risk tolerance
How are these border restrictions compatible with the increase in the positivity rate observed at airports? According to the Federal Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, this stems from a “qualitative” assessment of a criterion never mentioned before: the risk that travelers are ready to assume.
“Every time we assess [les mesures], it is not only a question of considering the quantitative data. There is also a qualitative assessment [dans laquelle] we are thinking of including risks and risk tolerance, which we cannot measure,” replied Minister Alghabra to questions from the To have toWednesday.
The Minister also mentioned the strong opposition to the measures imposed on travelers by elected Conservatives, recalling that this subject is the subject of debate in the House of Commons. “Every time we add or remove measures, we do so after thorough examinations. We take these decisions very seriously,” he said.
At the request of To have to, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has provided a short list of criteria on which government decisions at the border are based. “Risk tolerance” does not appear anywhere.
“Border measures are based on known data, operational considerations, scientific evidence as well as monitoring of the epidemiological situation in Canada and around the world,” writes PHAC. The high vaccination rate in Canada, the accessibility of rapid tests and the availability of new drugs against COVID-19 are also part of the reasons for the recent relaxations.
In an email, the office of the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, repeated the essence of the statement of the PHAC, without explaining the appearance of contradiction between the announced abandonment of certain rules at the border and his remarks. of January on the importance of the drop in the rate of positivity of the tests on arrival of the travelers.
In December, Ottawa decided to again advise against all travel abroad, when only a fraction of 1% of air travelers returned from abroad with COVID-19. For the rest, the federal government specifies that stricter travel restrictions could return if the health situation so requires.