 Poster: A snowHead
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| RichardB wrote: |
| It is an unlikely situation to happen if your pre-departure PCR test comes back negative but, I don’t understand why the Canadian government did not simply reduce the time for the PCR test down to 24-48 hours rather than 72 instead of this situation which enforces an inconvenient isolation period. The first PCR test may as well be redundant, it certainly feels a waste of money now. |
It’s not the quarantine on arrival- it’s getting hit with a positive test when preparing to depart Canada which is now required by the UK. We picture having a positive test, you have to check out of the hotel the following day, you can’t travel and you have no accommodation booked… I can’t see our way through this. Am I missing something? I really would like to go but right now the new requirement of UK pre departure tests just feels like a show stopper….the costs are covered by our insurance but the logistics seem a nightmare.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@lynnecha, I share your concerns regarding a positive result prior to departure from the foreign country. As a matter of interest, with whom are you insured and what is the wording which covers you in this situation? Thanks.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
but the logistics seem a nightmare.
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Great for the local hotel businesses though. Especially around airports.
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Apparently the testing on arrival system is already falling to pieces just with partial random testing. It's unclear if or how they will be able to scale to all foreign non-US arrivals
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| @lynnecha, I share your concerns regarding a positive result prior to departure from the foreign country. As a matter of interest, with whom are you insured and what is the wording which covers you in this situation? Thanks. |
I'm covered through my bank travel policy. I rang them and asked specifically. They said if you test positive in this situation, costs of quarantine are covered and if you contract Covid whilst away its covered. Any costs or lossess arising from changes to government policy - e.g. testing, quarantine, etc. are not covered in any circumstance, even if it happens after you book. They expect the travel companies to deal with this.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@lynnecha, thanks.
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| Saintsman wrote: |
| Apparently the testing on arrival system is already falling to pieces just with partial random testing. It's unclear if or how they will be able to scale to all foreign non-US arrivals |
This is going to likely be reviewed then, hopefully common sense will win out with the PCR test likely being required sooner than 72 hours.
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| lynnecha wrote: |
| RichardB wrote: |
| It is an unlikely situation to happen if your pre-departure PCR test comes back negative but, I don’t understand why the Canadian government did not simply reduce the time for the PCR test down to 24-48 hours rather than 72 instead of this situation which enforces an inconvenient isolation period. The first PCR test may as well be redundant, it certainly feels a waste of money now. |
It’s not the quarantine on arrival- it’s getting hit with a positive test when preparing to depart Canada which is now required by the UK. We picture having a positive test, you have to check out of the hotel the following day, you can’t travel and you have no accommodation booked… I can’t see our way through this. Am I missing something? I really would like to go but right now the new requirement of UK pre departure tests just feels like a show stopper….the costs are covered by our insurance but the logistics seem a nightmare. |
This has been the case for us all along. We've always had the pre-return test and it's why I'm not at a conference in the US right now.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Saintsman wrote: |
| Apparently the testing on arrival system is already falling to pieces just with partial random testing. It's unclear if or how they will be able to scale to all foreign non-US arrivals |
Difficult to see how it scales up. Currently we have a pretty fast turn around on PCR from the government, some private companies doing pre-departure tests, and some workplace antigen testing but not sure how that will scale to testing everyone turning up at the airports and still keep the turnaround fast, and not impact the current system which is likely itself ramping up with Omicron ( though that is provincially and privately administered and this I assume will be federal?)
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So, an updated report from a 3rd party who flew into YVR yesterday. Effectively, the rules as published on travel.gc.ca are unchanged and exactly as they were before. It's just that the "randomised" selection for testing has effectively moved to randomly selecting everyone for testing unless you're exempted. I guess it makes it easier for them to muck about with the "rules" as they go by doing it this way.
Still some confusion though - lots of stalls for tests so the queues aren't that long (there's not much Asian international traffic at YVR yet, so it's really just the TATL flights plus a bit of LATAM) but the guidance handout they're giving people says that there's no need to isolate until the results are through "Fully vaccinated travellers without signs and symptoms of COVID-19 are not required to quarantine upon entering Canada if they comply with the requirements of this handout"
TBH the whole things sounds a bit like an episode of Monty Python
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Oh the fun of the fair....just hoping somebody with a brain in Canada sorts this all out before the 12th January..
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I flew into Calgary on November 12th arrived at 13:30- Before the change to everyone quarantine until PCR result available - But we were selected for random testing when we arrived. Went into the test queue and they took details and then did a PCR. The test was run by Switch Health and the system emailed the result through to us. There were 2 in the group, one result came on the 14th at 12:47 and the other came in on the 15th at 00:44. They had quite a few booths set up in arrivals to do tests, but they were sampling 5%max so I hope they have ramped up if now they need to do everyone.
Appreciate the system has changed but thought the info on how long the results took might be useful.
We drove (or tried to drive) to Vancouver - road trip and family visit. Didn't ski, although it was opening weekend when we were in Banff, snow was very good! We drove through 12 hours of it from Banff to Kamloops - roads shut down, Semi-trucks stuck etc. Wish I had had the chance to ski!
We then got to the BC/Lower Mainland flooding and road closures. All Highways out of Vanvouver closed - impossible to get through. We had to drop out car in Kelowna and fly.
If any of you have a road trip that involves Vancouver research the roads in detail - major problems likely to last all winter due to the damage sone by mud slides/flooding! Check our drivebc.ca
Hope all this helps.
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@pdsguy, do you know what the situation is like from Vancouver to Whistler? I'm guessing it's the resorts further inland that are worse affected?
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You know it makes sense.
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| Timmaah wrote: |
| @pdsguy, do you know what the situation is like from Vancouver to Whistler? I'm guessing it's the resorts further inland that are worse affected? |
It's fine. Was quite busy though yesterday coming back!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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So arrival resting is still random with no need to self isolate?
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Poster: A snowHead
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You wish.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don’t wish anything. Just looking for a direct answer.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Timmaah the problems on 99 we’re further North of there. It was shut due to mudslides between Lillooet and Pemberton. Bottom end was fine.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Ptspeak wrote: |
I don’t wish anything. Just looking for a direct answer. |
All I can say is that as of 5th December is that "random" testing meant that everyone got tested, and that there was no mandatory isolation. That's at odds with how things were announced, but that's how it was being implemented on Sunday. It could be completely different today
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Couple of updates on travel.gc.ca:
Coming soon: Fully vaccinated travellers arriving by air or land, who have been in any country other than Canada and the United States in the 14 days prior to entry to Canada, will all be subject to arrival testing and enhanced public health measures. Travellers arriving by air may take connecting flights to their place of quarantine.
And also
Who is exempt from arrival testing
Already recovered: Travellers who provide a positive COVID-19 molecular pre-entry test result, conducted at least 14 and no more than 180 days (starting January 15, 2022, between 10 and 180 days ago) before their scheduled flight or arrival at the land border crossing, are exempt from arrival testing (starting January 15, 2022, between 10 and 180 days ago)
So, they're still planning on bringing in mandatory testing on arrival with quarantine, but don't have a timescale, and they're intending to keep (and actually expand) the positive test exemption
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One question I have is, they say it takes up to 3 days for the Airport test result but what will be the average? If it’s 24 hours normally than I would be okay with only losing a day, I suppose it will become more clear over the next few weeks.
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No-one knows at the moment. The average before the announcement when they started ramping things up was apparently around 12 hours, but the stories are that they're already extending significantly
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Take into account that the next few weeks are the busiest times for travel, Christmas and New Year, that will hopefully show the maximum wait time. I’m keeping my eyes on that, I’m not going until the 19th January so I will have some good estimates to go on.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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By the time they bring this regime in they'll have missed the opportunity to actually control anything and there will already be widespread community Omicron transmission
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I don't think that's the intention behind any of this in the UK or Canada, as that's obviously fundamentally not how viruses work and we all know that by now.
Whatever, I don't mind. Testing on entry to Iceland was very quick and efficient, and allowed me to safely go snowboarding there.
More "freedom" oriented places were less accessible. So my approach is that they should bring it on.
Whatever it takes to get me on the snow 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If I had Covid (Alpha, Delta) 179 days prior to my arrival, I don't have to test and quarantine. However, as a triple jabbed voyager (with more immunity in all likelihood) I have to test and quarantine. I don't see the logic in that. The portents are global lockdown by the time I am due to fly (12 January, 2022). Half empty glass this evening 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Where do you get triple vaccinated means you need to test and quarantine, if you qualify for the 180 day positive test exemption?
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Latest update from travel.gc.ca
Temporary border restrictions and measures to address COVID-19 Omicron variant of concern
In effect: There are new requirements for all fully vaccinated travellers who have been in any country other than Canada and the United States in the 14 days prior to entry to Canada. Fully vaccinated travellers who are selected for arrival testing must quarantine in a suitable place until they receive a negative test result. The Government of Canada is increasing the number of fully vaccinated travellers being selected for testing to reach 100% of vaccinated travellers in the coming weeks.
Requirements for unvaccinated travellers remain unchanged.
So, right now it;s still "random" - but if you are randomly selected you have to quarantine, if you're not you don't
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You know it makes sense.
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Sounds correct, and if you think about it, that's the obvious way to ramp up testing.
This is what Air Canada are saying today, although they're likely not bang up to date, it seems relevant. The last sentence is the variability:
"Vaccinated travelers may be randomly selected for the border testing surveillance program on arrival in Canada. Travelers are not required to quarantine while awaiting test results. If selected, travelers must take the test or will be subject to quarantine and penalties/fines. If the test is positive, travelers must submit to quarantine immediately and contact local public health authorities. In the coming days, all fully vaccinated travelers arriving by air from departure points other than the United States will be subject to arrival testing. Fully vaccinated travelers will be required to quarantine while they await the results of their arrival test. No specific date was announced by the Canadian government so far, our page will be updated as soon as more information is released."
The Air Canada site is pretty good on this. You have to upload stuff there as well as the arrive can thing, as far as I can tell, but you can only do it close to the travel date.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Yeah, well, for most people most of the docs to upload can't be completed until 72 hours before your departure date:
ArriveCAN
Negative PCR
Obviously you can complete your ETA, but AC don't need to see that; and I imagine there's so few travelling under the positive exemption test rule it's not worth creating an upload exemption for that
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Poster: A snowHead
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So vaccinated travellers are not required to quarantine while awaiting test results...BUT fully vaccinated are required to quarantine while they await of their arrival test...
So which is it ?..???? Or am I reading it wrongly ???
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| yorkshirelad wrote: |
So vaccinated travellers are not required to quarantine while awaiting test results...BUT fully vaccinated are required to quarantine while they await of their arrival test...
So which is it ?..???? Or am I reading it wrongly ??? |
travel.gc.ca is pretty clear ATM - If you're selected for testing, you have to quarantine. if you're not you don't. AC is good advice, but not gospel, as it's not guaranteed to be up to date. Travel.gc.ca is run buy the Canadian government and is gospel - ad says the following:
Fully vaccinated travellers who are selected for arrival testing must quarantine in a suitable place until they receive a negative test result.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We are due to travel to Banff on January 1st from Heathrow. Keeping our fingers crossed something changes with the testing on arrival. Feels like a big risk testing on arrival even if we test negative with the pre-travel PCR!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I don't expect them to scrub this by then, unless they discover that they simply can't scale. I'm not sure on what the actual risk is; supposedly they were only getting a 0.2% positive hit rate during random (targetted) testing
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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"supposedly they were only getting a 0.2% positive hit rate during random (targetted) testing" very interesting stat! You'd hope it was that low if everyone on the plane has shown a negative test before boarding.
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That's what I read on CBC.com - can't remember exactly who was quoted but it was either a member of the government or a senior official
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Latest update:
Temporary border restrictions and measures to address COVID-19 Omicron variant of concern
In effect: Fully vaccinated travellers who have been in any country other than Canada and the United States in the 14 days prior to entry to Canada may be selected for arrival testing. They must quarantine in a suitable place until they receive a negative test result. If they’re selected for arrival testing, they may take connecting flights to their place of quarantine.
The Government of Canada is increasing the number of fully vaccinated travellers being selected for testing to reach 100% of vaccinated travellers in the coming weeks.
Clarifies a few things - effectively although you may only be selected for on-arrival testing at random, if you are selected you have to quarantine until you get your result through. Will be interesting to see how they intend to scale to 100% "in the coming weeks" when they would also be expecting traffic numbers to be scaling up as well as Christmas approaches
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We sadly cancelled today. We lost our £1100 deposit, but the risk of testing positive before we return home and getting stranded for two weeks, combined with the general anxiety about catching it whilst we are there meant it just didn’t feel like the right year to travel. We are seriously disappointed. Hoping for better luck in 2023. Good luck to all of you persevering. Say hello to Goats Eye for us!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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On this page
https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada#entry-vaccinated
In the section - Pre-entry testing and other requirements - if you click on 5. Arrival tests - randomized testing and exemptions
It states:
Upon your entry to Canada by air or at a land border crossing, the border services officer may notify you that you have been selected for a mandatory randomized arrival test.
If you are selected for a mandatory randomized test, you:
Must take the arrival test as directed on the day you enter Canada. The test may be administered at the airport or you may receive a self-swab kit to complete within 24 hours of entering Canada
Don't have to wait for the results, you can travel on to your final destination, including taking connecting flights
Don’t have to quarantine while waiting for your results
Are not required to pay a fee for the arrival test
Yet elsewhere it stated you have to quarantine.
Can anyone offer any clarity (I don't suppose anyone else will know much more, but thought I'd ask)?
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The main page has yet to be updated since the announcement that everyone would be required to quarantine. The ONLY update that reflects the public announcement is right at the top of the page, which is currently the part that changes/updates almost daily:
Temporary border restrictions and measures to address COVID-19 Omicron variant of concern
In effect: Fully vaccinated travellers who have been in any country other than Canada and the United States in the 14 days prior to entry to Canada may be selected for arrival testing. They must quarantine in a suitable place until they receive a negative test result. They may take public transportation (for example, connecting flights) to their place of quarantine.
The Government of Canada is increasing the number of fully vaccinated travellers being selected for testing to reach 100% of vaccinated travellers in the coming weeks.
Requirements for unvaccinated travellers remain unchanged.
If your travel is imminent you should be planning on quarantining on arrival, unless exempt from arrivals testing (stories from people passing through indicate it's going both ways ATM). Apparently what is confusing the issue at the moment is that the Order in Council that all this would be based on is yet to be published.
On a separate note, as per Pique https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/must-reads/covid-19-testing-at-canadian-airports-ramps-up-amid-omicron-uncertainty-4852170
"The number of COVID-19 tests targeting travellers at airports has not yet hit capacity since new testing requirements came into effect late last month.
Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos revealed Friday the number of tests administered at airports daily sits at 17,000 as of Dec. 9.
That’s up from 11,000 daily tests administered as of Nov. 30, when the federal government began requiring non-U.S. air travellers to get tested upon arrival. Those travellers must also take tests prior to embarking for Canada.
“The end state to test all non-U.S. air travellers is a capacity of 23,000 [tests per day] nationally,” Duclos said.
That leaves 6,000 non-U.S. air travellers going without COVID-19 tests each day.
When pressed for when airports will be able to hit that 23,000 mark, Duclos said it would come “as quickly as possible.”
The new testing requirements come amid the emergence of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, first identified in southern Africa. Much uncertainty still surrounds Omicron, such as its transmissibility and response to vaccines.
“Omicron is not yet prevalent in Canada. It has limited community transmission. That is going to change,” Duclos said.
Vancouver International Airport was administering 2,080 tests daily as of Nov. 30. That has risen to 3,130 tests administered daily as of Dec. 9."
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FAQ
