1,400 quarantine hotel travellers test positive for COVID after leaving facilities
Around 1,400 travellers who were forced to stay in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's quarantine hotels ended up testing positive for COVID-19 on testing conducted eight days after their arrival, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
Starting on February 22, the federal government began requiring air travellers arriving in Canada to book a three day stay at a quarantine hotel, on top of requiring a negative PCR test 72 hours before entry.
Since that time though, some 1,400 travellers who entered the country and were tested eight days later ended up testing positive for COVID-19. The number was revealed during a Friday hearing at the House of Commons when New Democrat MP Don Davies questioned Iain Stewart, PHAC president, about how many travellers tested positive after leaving their mandatory three-day hotel quarantine.
“The number of people who tested positive at the day eight test, the figure looks to be about 1.5 percent, so about 1,400 people out of about 96,000,” Stewart responded, according to a story from Blacklock's Reporter.
MP Davies then questioned whether any of the 297 people who paid a $3,000 fine for failing to stay in the quarantine hotels tested positive for COVID-19. President Stewart had no answer to that question, simply responding that he was “not aware of the medical histories of these people.”
As Rebel News has previously reported, a number of travellers have refused to stay in the facilities for a wide variety of reasons.
On April 30, Trudeau defended his government's program, stating that the quarantine hotels “actually shut down over 95 per cent of all travel to Canada.” Trudeau added that the only people coming across the border right now were “either permanent residents or Canadians returning home, essential workers and a limited number of exceptional cases.”
Stewart also said that the government had been mulling further restrictions, including a recommendation to ban domestic flights between provinces.
Responding to Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, Stewart added that the government had “looked at different scenarios for reducing movement.”
“In the range of things we have considered we certainly have thought about that,” Stewart explained.
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