B.C. adds bite to quarantine rules
Returning travellers now required to submit plan or face detention
B.C. Premier John Horgan says hundreds of people returning home each day from outside Canada must submit a quarantine plan or they’ll be forced to stay at a federal quarantine site.
“Although we welcome home all of those travellers, we also are asking them to join with all of us in the battle we have been waging together over the past number of weeks,” Horgan said, addressing Snowbirds in particular.
There are 450 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., with 45 new cases and five more deaths between noon Tuesday and noon Wednesday. The median age of the 48 people who have died in B.C. so far is 87. The number of patients in hospital has dropped to 135, with 61 in acute care.
“We’ve been staying home, we’ve been giving up some of our liberties, in the interest of the greater good,” Horgan said. “As people return, we have an expectation they will follow suit. Stopping at the golf course to hit a bucket of balls, and maybe going to pick up some groceries, and stopping at a buddy’s place, is not self-isolation.”
Under the directive, effective Friday, all arrivals from abroad must report where they will self-quarantine, how they will get from the airport to that location, and how they will arrange access to groceries, drugs, child care, cleaning supplies and pet care during those two weeks. Similar procedures will be in force at land borders, with provincial staff based at the Peace Arch, Pacific, Boundary Bay and Osoyoos crossings.
“It’s not just a suggestion. It’s a directive from the public health office and consistent with the Quarantine Act,” Horgan said.
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association recommends against going into quarantine with pets, after a report that COVID -19 was transferred from person to pet. The association says there is no evidence that animals infected by humans are playing a role in the spread of COVID-19.
You want to approach them and encourage them to get back into their house, or back into their place of isolation.
Personal quarantine plans can be rejected by officials, under the provincial health officer’s quarantine order of March 17 and the March 25 self-isolation order from the federal government under the Quarantine Act.
New arrivals will receive a form to fill out on their flight or can opt to submit the plan online at gov.bc.ca/returningtravellers.
On arrival, people are screened for COVID-19 symptoms and placed into isolation if symptoms are shown.
People who are not sick and who lack an acceptable quarantine plan will be forced into a quarantine facility.
Horgan said some travellers may be returning from locations where COVID-19 prevention measures aren’t as strong as in B.C., and those people need to ensure they abide by B.C. laws to quarantine after 14 days upon their return.
If a traveller arrives and an adequate self-quarantine plan is proposed, but needs additional support to execute safely, travellers may be taken or directed to an accommodation site provided in collaboration with the provincial and federal governments to begin self-isolating. Unless a plan is approved, they’ll remain at that site for 14 days, a government statement read.
The provincial government is not naming those sites.
Horgan said the federal government was expected to provide more support, starting next week.
His declaration came as U.S. flights scheduled to arrive at the Kelowna and Victoria airports were stopped after aggressive lobbying from the provincial government.
“I am pleased that tomorrow will be the last day for flights originating in the U.S. to arrive in either Victoria or Kelowna. And the only destination now for inbound passengers outside of Canada will be YVR. So our ability to manage that has greatly improved,” Horgan said.
Horgan also called on citizens to act, if they knew someone had returned home and was not respecting their quarantine.
“If they know they have come back from abroad and aren’t self-isolating, you want to approach them and encourage them to get back into their house, or back into their place of isolation,” Horgan said. “And if that is unsuccessful, you should contact authorities, whether it be the public health office where these directives originated, or local law enforcement.”