Drop quarantine hotels, doctors say

OTTAWA • Canada’s requirement for air travellers to quarantine for up to three days at a hotel is an expensive, inconsistent policy that contains loopholes and should be ditched, according to a government advisory panel.

The experts, mainly doctors, provide guidance to Health Minister Patty Hajdu on COVID-19.

Their latest report focused on Canada’s land and border measures. While the report says Canada should continue screening international travellers for more transmissible variants of the virus, it should discontinue its policy of making air travellers stay in “government-authorized accommodations.”

It notes making those arriving by air stay at a hotel for up to the first three days of their 14-day quarantine has likely improved compliance. But it details several issues with the policy.

First, it says, some travellers are choosing to pay the fine of up to $3,000 for skipping out on their mandatory hotel stay and possibly not quarantining at all.

Besides the burden of a three-night stay at a government-approved hotel, the report says “there are significant administrative costs and resources devoted to managing hotel quarantine,” which could be used elsewhere to respond to the pandemic.

The experts say because only people flying into Canada have to quarantine at a hotel, some people are detouring to a U.S. airport and entering into the country through a land border where no such rule exists.

And finally, the panel said the three-day requirement doesn’t match up with the science around the incubation period of COVID-19.