Seven passengers a day arrived at YVR over 6 weeks this year

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More than 300 air travellers arriving at Vancouver airport over six weeks this year tested positive for COVID-19 when they landed, according to data released by a federal health agency.

From Feb. 22, the first day Canada required international arrivals by air to quarantine for three days at a hotel, until April 7, 23,252 passengers landed at YVR and were tested for the coronavirus, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

In total 306, or 1.3 per cent, tested positive, said Tammy Jarbeau in an email.

That worked out to almost seven passengers a day.

“The majority of these travellers that arrived by air were staying at a government-authorized accommodation when they tested positive and were then redirected to a designated quarantine facility or another suitable location to limit their interaction with other Canadians,” she said.

The agency also reported that over the course of the pandemic, police in B.C. followed up with 8,300 travellers who were required to quarantine for 14 days at home, she said.

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“Compliance with the border measures has been high,” said Jarbeau.

Police issued 143 tickets and one summary conviction charge to travellers not complying with the federal law. Police also issued 32 oral warnings and two written warnings. The health agency’s own quarantine officers issued 180 contravention tickets under the federal Quarantine Act to travellers arriving in B.C., she said.

The agency didn’t provide more details about the violations or the summary conviction offence.

Also, as of April 12, more than 28,000 travellers in B.C. had received a “compliance verification visit” by a third-party private security company employee, she said.

And the agency had made more than 6,500 phone calls a day by live agents or automated calls to ensure travellers were quarantining for the required 14 days after entering or re-entering Canada from overseas. It also emailed all travellers arriving in Canada “to promote compliance with the mandatory requirements.”

The agency had previously said 106 passengers between Feb. 22 and early April had refused to comply with the mandatory quarantine and were issued tickets that carried fines of $3,000 a day.

Violators are free to challenge them in court.

“As contraventions tickets are handled by the provincial court system in each province …, any issues with nonpayment would be dealt with at that level,” she said.

As for the 306 passengers that tested positive for COVID-19 when they landed at YVR, despite having to have shown a negative test taken within 72 hours to be able to board their flight, she said it could be the passenger was recently infected and the viral load wasn’t high enough to be detected before flying.

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“It is also possible for a traveller to acquire COVID-19 after completing their pre-departure test,” she said.

Meanwhile, a new national poll on Thursday showed more than half of Canadians support the federal government’s three-day hotel stay for returning air travellers, but almost as many think it’s ineffective.

The Angus Reid Institute poll found 58 per cent of respondents said the self-paid, three-day stay was necessary, while 34 per cent said it was unnecessary and eight per cent were not sure.

It also found that 48 per cent think the plan is ineffective, compared with 30 per cent who think it works. Only five per cent say it is really effective.

Thirty-one per cent of respondents want the U.S. border to remain closed until the end of the year, while 28 per cent want it closed until summer, and 35 per cent until the fall. Sixteen per cent want to see it open this month.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted the survey of 1,577 Canadian adults from April 5 to 8. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

— With files from Tiffany Crawford