Travelers fear a complex homecoming

Anguish, stress, disappointment. The arrival of the Omicron variant overshadows the departure of many travelers met at Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport on Monday evening.

Alice Girard-Bossé
Press

” [Le variant Omicron] worry. It’s a lot of stress. If it weren’t for a trip to see family, I would have postponed ”, testified Marie-Andrée Doran, who was going to Reunion Island with her daughter, her son-in-law and her children. four grandchildren.

“It’s been three times that we postpone the trip and it has been planned for more than two years, said M^me Doran, who is going to visit his son. Just when we are no longer able to back down, because we have all the reservations, we hear about the variant. It is very annoying. ”

The arrival of the new Omicron variant took her by surprise.

The family will stay on French territory for nearly three weeks. “I’m afraid the measures have changed when we return. I tell myself that if necessary, we will come back sooner. We are monitoring the borders and we hope that our vaccines will always be effective, ”summed up M^me Doran.

Tightening of measures

The Doran family are not the only ones to fear a possible tightening of measures in the coming weeks. “I’m especially worried about the return,” said Vincent Borgeat, who was going to Toulouse for two weeks to see friends.

“In the last few days, I was worried that my flight would be canceled. I don’t know either if there will be any consequences for my return, ”said Richard Dubé, who was flying on Monday evening for a month-long vacation in Portugal.

Mohammed Gouda, a civil engineering student at the University of Sherbrooke, was preparing to return to Egypt on Monday to see his family.

“I’m scared, but I haven’t traveled to Egypt since the pandemic started, so I have to go to see my family. I hope they don’t close the border, ”said the man who was leaving for the next month, accompanied by his wife and daughter.

Border closure

For his part, Abdoulaye N’Diaye was not worried. “The variant doesn’t stress me. Scientists in Johannesburg said the infected people had minor symptoms, ”said the man who was going to Mali for the next three weeks.

In fact, Angelique Coetzee, a South African doctor who has treated around thirty COVID-19 patients infected with the new Omicron variant, says that he has only observed convalescence without hospitalization for the moment. In addition to fatigue, patients suffered from muscle aches, a dry cough or “a scratchy throat,” she said. Only a few had a low fever.

However, some researchers question the generalization of these symptoms, since the people she treated were almost all under the age of 40.

Mr. N’Diaye hopes countries will listen to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and not close borders. “The WHO says it’s counterproductive,” he says.

WHO and several African countries are calling for “that the borders remain open”, since the flight ban measures, which have an impact on the economy and tourism, could deter countries in the future from reporting the discovery of variants, for fear of being punished.

With Agence France-Presse