WestJet, Air Canada, and Pearson airport have written an open letter to the feds demanding the Canadian arrival testing program stop..“As every person travelling to Canada must take a PCR test prior to getting on a plane inbound to Canada and must be fully vaccinated, there is no good public health rationale for a second test upon arrival,” said the chief medical officers of the three institutions..They made three demands: removal of mandatory arrival testing from airports, revert to surveillance arrival testing, and require mandatory isolation only from individuals with symptoms..It was reported testing on arrival only has a 3% positivity rate, whereas in Canadian communities the rate is 30% and could be higher due to under reporting. .“We know that the primary concern for Omicron is in the community. By extension, the primary need for testing is in our community; not at our airports. Now is the time to act,” said the letter..The officials said testing is causing more strain on the testing system, causing tests to be less available, wait times longer, and without sufficient evidence that it stops the spread of COVID-19..“A recent study prepared for the Manchester Airports Group found travel testing at best delayed the peak of cases by no more than five days, and made total case counts only 3% lower,” said the letter..“This was because Omicron was prevalent in the communities long before it was detected as a variant of concern in South Africa. Indeed, here in Canada as well, it was learned Omicron was present and circulating in our communities long before the first official case was declared in Canada.”.Removing PCR testing from Pearson airport alone would negate the use of 8,000 tests for the GTA area..The letter was addressed to Minister of Health.Jean-Yves Duclos, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada.Dr. Theresa Tam, Deputy Premier of Ontario and Minister of Health.Christine Elliott, and Ontario Chief Medical Officer.Dr. Kieran Moore..Ewa Sudyk is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.esudyk@westernstandardonline.com
