Reports: Canada Will Remove Pre-Arrival COVID-19 Testing Requirement for Fully Vaccinated
byDaniel McCarthy/
Canada’s federal government is reportedly close to removing the mandatory PCR testing requirement for fully vaccinated travelers.
Multiple news reports over the weekend, including one from CBC, said that Canada is on the verge of announcing the change, allowing vaccinated Canadians who travel outside of the country to return without having to get a PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to departure.
According to Health Minister Jean Yves-Duclos, who spoke on Friday, the change could be announced sometime this week.
Major voices in the Canadian travel industry have long pushed for a relaxation of pre-travel and post-arrival rules, including the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, which helped a press conference at Toronto Pearson on Thursday.
该新闻发布会上有两名传染病医生的官员认为,Omicron的传播使旅行测试要求毫无意义,并且在这些测试上花费的钱以及到达后的随机测试是浪费的费用。
美国的团体也推动了同样的事情。
美国的旅行协会和团体继续推动取消测试要求,something they say is in the way of the industry’s full recovery, both with inbound and outbound travel. According to those groups, international travel is still down 38% compared to 2019, and that testing requirement is responsible for a lot of that gap.
Earlier this month, the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) sent a letter to the White House explaining that the testing requirement was presenting a number of practical challenges to both consumers and to its members.
“这些挑战的范围从不确定性到及时测试的可用性可用性,避免破坏他们返回的返回到由于正面(或假阳性)测试结果而导致的财务和心理负担,以防止被阻止回家ASTA总裁兼首席执行官Zane Kerby写道。
That letter was followed by another letter to the White House signed by Airlines for America, the trade group for the major American carriers, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the International Air Transport Association, the U.S. Travel Association, and more.
That letter called the inbound testing requirement the “leading factor in the decision not to travel internationally,” and a major reason why the international travel recovery continues to lag the domestic recovery.
“Surveys of air passengers indicate that pre-departure testing is a leading factor in the decision not to travel internationally. People simply are unwilling to take the chance that they will be unable to return to the U.S.,” the letter read.
Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hassaid it is still “not quite ready” to consider removing the requirement.