International travellers testing positive in sharp decline since start of COVID-19 pandemic
By GILLIAN SLADE on October 2, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade Less than two per cent of those testing positive for COVID-19 in the past three months were international travellers, says Alberta Health. “Approximately 170 cases of COVID-19 in Alberta were acquired via travel internationally in the last three months,” said Tom McMillan, assistant director communication Alberta Health. In those three months Alberta Health reported an increase of 9,860 cases of COVID. That means international travellers were only 1.7 per cent of that total. “To be clear, that number refers to individuals who were exposed while they travelled. It does not include Albertans who caught the virus from someone who travelled,” said McMillan. Since the beginning of the pandemic until Sept. 28, nearly 700 cases of COVID-19 in Alberta were acquired via international travel, McMillan said. With a pandemic total of 18,235 cases in Alberta, that pushes the percentage of positive tests for international travellers up to about 3.8 per cent. At the start of the pandemic a significant number of international travellers tested positive. In fact, in the early stages the majority of the tests being provided were for this group of people. Those returning from international travel must isolate for 14 days as per provincial and federal regulations. Alberta Health says this is an import part of preventing the spread of the virus. At Calgary International Airport there is a federal protocol advising international travellers of this requirement and it is followed up with telephone calls to the quarantine location. Alberta has its own system as well. At the airport, international travellers have a protocol to follow. “Public health follows up on all returning travellers to ensure that they are self-isolating as required,” said McMillan. “Violations are rare … To date, only seven individuals have reported an unwillingness to isolate and were reported to AHS for follow-up.” Statistics Canada reports international travel to and from Canada remained low throughout July – down 97 per cent compared to 2019. Arrivals from the U.K., the top source of overseas travel to Canada, fell from 141,200 in July 2019 to 2,200 this July. The number of Canadian residents returning from trips overseas declined 93.9 per cent year over year, from 869,100 in July 2019 to 53,300 this July. Alberta is one of the top three provinces to see the most significant decline. The largest relative year-over-year declines in arrivals from overseas countries in July were in Yukon (-100.0 per cent), Nova Scotia (-99.4 per cent) and Alberta (-99.2 per cent). 16-15
