Covid And The Rest of Us

[ronandannette]

Oh, there definitely people accusing him of queue jumping! Also those who say the leader of the opposition and/or the state Premiers and Chief Health Officers should have been done at the same time, etc. etc. You will never make everyone happy, especially when it comes to politics!

Yes, just so. I'm fine with them doing whatever they have or haven't done without fanfare. Valid points could be made on either side of the argument I suppose but I for one am pretty tired of having to contend over everything.

 

[mrs. magoo]

To the Canadians on the thread, you might find this interesting. My Aunt lives in Scottsdale and the couple who lives across the way from her are Canadian snowbirds. They rent from January to March and they were telling her they got their vaccines at the State Farm Stadium site. They are hoping to return to Canada in mid March. I just found this interesting.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To the Canadians on the thread, you might find this interesting. My Aunt lives in Scottsdale and the couple who lives across the way from her are Canadian snowbirds. They rent from January to March and they were telling her they got their vaccines at the State Farm Stadium site. They are hoping to return to Canada in mid March. I just found this interesting.

Arizona had announced a while back (mid-December) they would offer vaccines to snowbirds including Canadian ones, most of the news stories back then that I read made a point to say it was very likely those Canadian snowbirds would be eligible for their vaccines earlier than their fellow Canadians.

 

[ronandannette]

To the Canadians on the thread, you might find this interesting. My Aunt lives in Scottsdale and the couple who lives across the way from her are Canadian snowbirds. They rent from January to March and they were telling her they got their vaccines at the State Farm Stadium site. They are hoping to return to Canada in mid March. I just found this interesting.

It’s not news to us. We’ve been hearing for months of what’s being called “vaccine tourism”. Given that our vaccination program has not rolled out anywhere near like it was intended due to supply issues, those people have no clue when they’ll be eligible here and I’d get the shot there too under their circumstances. I’d think it would be a bigger issue for the actual residents of those states if they are being given vaccine that should more rightly go to citizens.

Larger questions about snow-birding (for me anyway) are:

• The fact they risked leaving relatively safer places in Canada to go Florida and Arizona where the rates of infection and death are exponentially higher;
• The fact that they have left Canada against orders prohibiting non-essential travel under our State of National Health Emergency;
• What they’re doing for medical insurance because their provincial plans are all void due to the the point directly above and most travel insurance sold here in Canada (at least for a while) had clauses specifically excluding Covid-related illness;
• What our newest round of restrictions mean for their plans to return. Any citizen reentering Canada from abroad must be quarantined under guard in a federal Covid facility for 3 days while awaiting testing at a set cost of $2,000/per person plus the cost of testing. They must have reservations at the facilities before crossing the border. Upon release they must finish quarantine for 11 additional days at home and test negative again (at their own cost).

 

[mrs. magoo]

It’s not news to us. We’ve been hearing for months of what’s being called “vaccine tourism”. Given that our vaccination program has not rolled out anywhere near like it was intended due to supply issues, those people have no clue when they’ll be eligible here and I’d get the shot there too under their circumstances. I’d think it would be a bigger issue for the actual residents of those states if they are being given vaccine that should more rightly go to citizens.

Larger questions about snow-birding (for me anyway) are:

• The fact they risked leaving relatively safer places in Canada to go Florida and Arizona where the rates of infection and death are exponentially higher;
• The fact that they have left Canada against orders prohibiting non-essential travel under our State of National Health Emergency;
• What they’re doing for medical insurance because their provincial plans are all void due to the the point directly above and most travel insurance sold here in Canada (at least for a while) had clauses specifically excluding Covid-related illness;
• What our newest round of restrictions mean for their plans to return. Any citizen reentering Canada from abroad must be quarantined under guard in a federal Covid facility for 3 days while awaiting testing at a set cost of $2,000/per person plus the cost of testing. They must have reservations at the facilities before crossing the border. Upon release they must finish quarantine for 11 additional days at home and test negative again (at their own cost).

My Aunt asked them about some of these questions and they told her that they will not have to quarantine since they have their vaccination card and they have private health insurance that they use when they come to the US. Their doctor back in Canada confirmed with them that they will not have to quarantine upon return but they said they may stay in Arizona until May with the hope that Canada will be better at vaccinating by then. They have rented across the way the entire time my Aunt has lived in the complex so they have been coming for 12 years. My Aunt was surprised that they came to the US but they said that this was the only way they were going to get the vaccine anytime soon. Just wondered if others have done this as a way to get vaccinated earlier than at home.

 

[ronandannette]

My Aunt asked them about some of these questions and they told her that they will not have to quarantine since they have their vaccination card and they have private health insurance that they use when they come to the US. Their doctor back in Canada confirmed with them that they will not have to quarantine upon return but they said they may stay in Arizona until May with the hope that Canada will be better at vaccinating by then. They have rented across the way the entire time my Aunt has lived in the complex so they have been coming for 12 years. My Aunt was surprised that they came to the US but they said that this was the only way they were going to get the vaccine anytime soon. Just wondered if others have done this as a way to get vaccinated earlier than at home.

I’m off to google now but my bet is that doctor is wrong or they have misunderstood. We have no “vaccine passport” scheme and there have been no broad exemptions announced other than for essential cross-border workers. Since this entire thing was rolled out specifically to discourage (some might even say punish) leisure travel, I highly doubt exceptions will be made for snowbirds.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/latest-travel-health-advice.html?&utm_campaign=gc-hc-sc-coronavirus2021-ao-2021-0005-10020125402&utm_medium=search&utm_source=google-ads-107800103024&utm_content=text-en-434525470215&utm_term=+covid#a3

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It’s not news to us. We’ve been hearing for months of what’s being called “vaccine tourism”. Given that our vaccination program has not rolled out anywhere near like it was intended due to supply issues, those people have no clue when they’ll be eligible here and I’d get the shot there too under their circumstances. I’d think it would be a bigger issue for the actual residents of those states if they are being given vaccine that should more rightly go to citizens.

Larger questions about snow-birding (for me anyway) are:

• The fact they risked leaving relatively safer places in Canada to go Florida and Arizona where the rates of infection and death are exponentially higher;
• The fact that they have left Canada against orders prohibiting non-essential travel under our State of National Health Emergency;
• What they’re doing for medical insurance because their provincial plans are all void due to the the point directly above and most travel insurance sold here in Canada (at least for a while) had clauses specifically excluding Covid-related illness;
• What our newest round of restrictions mean for their plans to return. Any citizen reentering Canada from abroad must be quarantined under guard in a federal Covid facility for 3 days while awaiting testing at a set cost of $2,000/per person plus the cost of testing. They must have reservations at the facilities before crossing the border. Upon release they must finish quarantine for 11 additional days at home and test negative again (at their own cost).

FL had some issues earlier that they've stamped out with non state residents for the most part but in Arizona they announced a while back that snowbirds themselves wouldn't get priority necessarily but rather if they qualified under whatever tier Arizona presently was in they would be fine.

When leaving Canada by air or land do they require reasons for doing so or is it just when coming back that most of the restrictions actually physically take place?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

they said they may stay in Arizona until May with the hope that Canada will be better at vaccinating by then.

That may be a safer (slightly ironic) bet just on the basis of the status of vaccinations elsewhere too (U.S. and world even though yes Canada is in a rough spot right now on that).

Hopefully they are prepared to stay for a while though unless as Annette mentioned they follow through with the present quarantine requirements and financial requirements that follow that their home country requires.

I'm interested to see if the U.S. does anything regarding status of vaccination. The CDC has already adjusted and advised if you were exposed to COVID but fully vaccinated you don't have to quarantine. Fully vaccinated being defined as all three of these:

• Are fully vaccinated (i.e., ≥2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series, or ≥2 weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine)
• Are within 3 months following receipt of the last dose in the series
• Have remained asymptomatic since the current COVID-19 exposure

On a personal note I'm hesitant myself on crossing international borders for a while. The last thing I would want is to be stranded or have the rules changed on a moment's notice. I'm already wary of flying. We're about to fly domestically on the 8th of March but plan to get tested several days prior, I've been watching closely this possible requirement for negative test to fly domestically because of the timing.

 

[bcwife76]

They will still need to quarantine upon return so they may as well stay in AZ for the time being if they are able. Whoever told them that they don't need to quarantine upon return to Canada due to a 'vaccine passport' is 100% wrong.

 

[ronandannette]

FL had some issues earlier that they've stamped out with non state residents for the most part but in Arizona they announced a while back that snowbirds themselves wouldn't get priority necessarily but rather if they qualified under whatever tier Arizona presently was in they would be fine.

When leaving Canada by air or land do they require reasons for doing so or is it just when coming back that most of the restrictions actually physically take place?

Constitutionally, Canadians cannot be prevented from leaving or returning. All the new measures take place upon re-entry and honestly, I have no clue what happens to people who show up at the border without their quarantine reservations or who can't afford the bills. It would seem that the onus is on the airlines to ensure passengers have proof of these things prior to boarding them.

 

[White Cat]

Constitutionally, Canadians cannot be prevented from leaving or returning. All the new measures take place upon re-entry and honestly, I have no clue what happens to people who show up at the border without their quarantine reservations or who can't afford the bills. It would seem that the onus is on the airlines to ensure passengers have proof of these things prior to boarding them.

Can’t get on the plane with out proof.

 

[ronandannette]

They will still need to quarantine upon return so they may as well stay in AZ for the time being if they are able. Whoever told them that they don't need to quarantine upon return to Canada due to a 'vaccine passport' is 100% wrong.

I just found this. It brings up a good point about snowbirds needing to return to their home provinces within the timeframe required in order to maintain their tax status and health coverage. I'm not sure if there are also visa requirements to stay in the US longer than 6 months.
(1) From insurance to hotel quarantine, new travel rules leave snowbirds in a conundrum - National | Globalnews.ca

I also saw over the weekend that the locations of the Covid hotels have been announced and some of them are saying the price won't necessarily be as high as expected. There was one in Calgary that was quoting $600'ish per person and one in Vancouver quoting $1,800'ish per person. There are a number of them in each gateway city (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal). Presumably, people will be able to choose where they want to stay, provided they can get a reservation. I wish I could find the article again but no luck right now.

 

[bcwife76]

Good point about the 6 month rule, I think you are correct!

 

[hdrolfe]

An article in CBC, not all the hotels are listed but it gives an idea of the price range. Note the exemptions listed are basically only those who currently don't have to quarantine (so essential workers, cross border workers) https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hotel-quarantine-canada-air-passengers-1.5922086

As for the staying in US for more than 6 months, it's a tax thing at least in part. And the visa thing, you cannot be in the US (as a Canadian) visiting for more than 183 days out of the past 365 days. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjs...stay-in-the-u-s-as-a-visitor/?sh=65f968715a6c
seems to explain it pretty well.

 

[ronandannette]

An article in CBC, not all the hotels are listed but it gives an idea of the price range. Note the exemptions listed are basically only those who currently don't have to quarantine (so essential workers, cross border workers) https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hotel-quarantine-canada-air-passengers-1.5922086

As for the staying in US for more than 6 months, it's a tax thing at least in part. And the visa thing, you cannot be in the US (as a Canadian) visiting for more than 183 days out of the past 365 days. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjs...stay-in-the-u-s-as-a-visitor/?sh=65f968715a6c
seems to explain it pretty well.

Yes - that's the article I read and couldn't find again; thanks. There's a link in it to the list of specified hotels but their individual links just take you to the hotel's website where it says nothing about the Covid confinement options.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-hea...ist-government-authorized-hotels-booking.html
I'm actually quite surprised that these hotels are still also booking regular guests. I would have expected them to be doing the lock-down people exclusively. I wonder how security is being handled since people there for quarantine are not permitted to come-and-go freely from their rooms.

 

[White Cat]

FL had some issues earlier that they've stamped out with non state residents for the most part but in Arizona they announced a while back that snowbirds themselves wouldn't get priority necessarily but rather if they qualified under whatever tier Arizona presently was in they would be fine.

When leaving Canada by air or land do they require reasons for doing so or is it just when coming back that most of the restrictions actually physically take place?

Only coming back, other than the normal questions.

 

[bcwife76]

One lady walked straight out of the Toronto airport today, refusing to do the hotel quarantine stating 'financial concerns' and said she would quarantine at home. Seems like no one stopped her so.....not sure how well this is going to work??

https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/0...hotel-quarantine-rules-being-ignored-by-some/

 

[White Cat]

One lady walked straight out of the Toronto airport today, refusing to do the hotel quarantine stating 'financial concerns' and said she would quarantine at home. Seems like no one stopped her so.....not sure how well this is going to work??

https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/0...hotel-quarantine-rules-being-ignored-by-some/

Good for her. It’s getting silly. Better behave or they threaten to lock down again.

 

[fab1976]

Good for her. It’s getting silly. Better behave or they threaten to lock down again.

Again? We haven’t been out of lockdown since the end of November.

 

[ronandannette]

One lady walked straight out of the Toronto airport today, refusing to do the hotel quarantine stating 'financial concerns' and said she would quarantine at home. Seems like no one stopped her so.....not sure how well this is going to work??

https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/0...hotel-quarantine-rules-being-ignored-by-some/

{{sigh}} I've said it before and I'll say it again, a huge issue with imposing rules/requirements/laws is actually enforcing them.