'PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE': Air travellers find loophole, skirting COVID-19 hotel rule

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Travellers abroad flying home to Canada have found a loophole around having to mandatory quarantine in a Covid hotel.

According to a report by CBC News, some Canadians are flying to airports close to the Canada-U.S. border and then crossing the border by land instead of air, in order to bypass staying at an airport hotel priced at upwards to $2,000 for up to three nights per person as they await polymerase chain reaction test (PCR) test results. The new rule comes into effect on Feb. 22 where air travellers must land in one of four designated cities — Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver.

Those travelling also have show negative COVID-19 results from tests taken 72 hours before boarding a flight to Canada, or if they arrive at a land border crossing.

But the hotel quarantine rule only applies to those coming into the country by air, not by land.

One couple in their 60s, who are spending their winter in Arizona, but plan to return in April, told the media outlet if the Covid hotel rules are still there when they plan on coming home, they’re going to take “the path of least resistance” and fly to Buffalo, N.Y. and then take a cab to the Rainbow Bridge land border crossing and then walking over to Niagara Falls, Ont.

“If I can save 4,000 bucks, why wouldn’t I do it?” Brian Cross told CBC News.

The Public Health Agency of Canada didn’t answer questions Friday pertaining to enforcement when it comes to bypassing mandatory stays in hotels, versus Canadians coming in via land routes.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said during a press conference last week imposing the same rule to land travellers would be difficult to enforce, given there are “117 different points of entry, and many of these points of entry are located in remote, rural areas that are not readily accessible to hotels, for example, or other amenities that would be required to have those people quarantine in those facilities.”

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Ambarish Chandra, an associate professor of economics at the University of Toronto, told the Toronto Sun Friday he’s not surprised that travellers will find and exploit loopholes. But the difference in restrictions doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the wrong policy.

“We have always had different policies for automobile entry than entry by air for pure logistical and staffing reasons,” he said.

“For years, Canada had different rules regarding passports and other documentation for the land border, as well as effectively different travel exemptions (in practice, not in principle). As long as the hotel quarantine policy ends up applying the vast majority of international arrivals by air, the fact that a few travelers can evade this policy is fine. Citizens evade all kinds of laws in many different creative ways, but a law doesn’t need to be perfect in order to still have a meaningful impact.”

jyuen@postmedia.com