Good point. It does look like there are current issues with Canada's hotel quarantine setup. I was reading the expert report to see what those issues are. Some notable quotes:
- While a mandatory three-day initial quarantine in government-authorized accommodations obviously improves compliance during those 3 days, the level of compliance after is uncertain. Requiring a test at day 7 of quarantine to facilitate exit may prove to be an incentive and thus increase compliance, resulting in more robust surveillance.
So the issue here seems to be compliance after the hotel quarantine. And they are hoping they can increase compliance in non-govt quarantine by offering ppl a "legal" way out if they test negative at Day 7.
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Currently, travellers are required to be tested on day 10 of their 14-day quarantine. Internal data from PHAC suggests there are fewer day 10 tests completed compared to number of arrival tests. For example, air travellers submitted 31,616 arrival samples for testing from February 22 to March 6, 2021. However, only 21,100 samples for day 10 quarantine exit tests had been received by March 20.
Obviously a good 1/3 of travellers aren't following the current rules when in their non-govt quarantine. To me, that's an enforcement issue. That said, I can't see Canadians putting up with more intense surveillance and enforcement in personal residences. This is why Australia has a manadatory 14 day hotel quarantine. Sure it's more ideal and safe to quarantine in a private residence. But the problem is trusting travellers to quarantine properly. The panel did comment that Australia's zero covid policy is not applicable to Canada so we shouldn't put so much effort at preventing every case from entering our borders.
In Canada, the current approach to mandatory hotel quarantine:
- is not applied equally to land and air travellers
- is expensive to administer
- provides opportunities for travellers to bypass by paying a fine
- is inconsistent with the incubation period of the virus
All fair points. I always thought it was kinda silly it was required at airports and not at land borders. Too many loopholes, especially with the small fine. And the 3 days never made a whole lot of sense - 7 days would. Then again, maybe 3 days are better than zero?
From my viewpoint, it seems the biggest goal of the mandatory quarantine is discouraging non-essential travel due to extra expense and hassle, therefore reducing the number of cases imported into the country. But if that's not happening, then what is the point?