Health Officials Will Now Be Stationed At The Canada-US Border To Screen For COVID-19

Canada’s airports just got busier! As the number of international passengers arriving in the country recently doubled, the Public Health Agency of Canada has stepped-up its COVID-19 measures. The government is boosting the number of health officials stationed at Canada’s major airports and will be placing screening officers at the Canada-U.S. border for the first time. 

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), per Global News, Canada’s airports are about to get an influx of health officials, who will screen incoming passengers for COVID-19.

Over the last two months, the number of international travellers entering Canada has almost doubled compared with April and May 2020.

The number of people crossing the Canada-U.S. border has also increased.

To help handle this climb, the government is boosting the presence of PHAC officials across 36 points of entry, including multiple Canadian airports and the Canada-U.S. border.

This will be the first time that health officials have been stationed at the border during the pandemic.

The health care staff will include quarantine and clinical officers, who will screen incoming passengers for the disease, and prevent them from travelling if they're sick.

This plan has been underway for several weeks and is still ongoing, the PHAC told Global News.

For the time being, the Canada-U.S. border remains closed to all non-essential travel. That said, some passengers have been able to find loopholes in the system, allowing them entry into Canada.

One American family claimed to be heading “home” to Alaska to cross the border, but actually took a Canadian vacation instead.

The COVID-19 situation in the U.S. remains rocky, with the state of Florida alone having more cases than the whole of Canada.

At the weekend, two American travellers were fined $1,000 each after they failed to adequately quarantine upon arrival in Canada.

After crossing the border and being asked to head directly to their destination to isolate per the Quarantine Act, the couple were spotted several times out and about in an Ontario town.

The increased presence of health officials in Canada’s airport may be comforting for any passengers worried about flying in the near future, particularly as physical distancing onboard just got harder.

This month, both Air Canada and WestJet confirmed they’d no longer be offering physically-distanced seating on their planes.