Canada’s chief health officer says provincial vaccine passports and other health measures need to be “re-examined” as Canada deals with the Omicron variant. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday that Canada needs to find a more “sustainable” way to deal with COVID-19 and that all existing public health policies, including provincial vaccine passports, need to be “re-examined” in the coming weeks, the CBC reports. “What we need to do going forward, as we emerge out of this Omicron wave, is recognize this virus is not going to disappear,” she said. “We do need to get back to Read more
Canadians
The latest poll from the Angus Reid Institute finds a strong majority of Canadians want community restrictions lifted. The latest poll, taken Jan. 27-28, found 54% want restrictions to be lifted compared to just 39% who wanted restrictions lifted when the same question was asked two weeks earlier, the non-profit institute said. “With Omicron now appearing to have peaked, many Canadians are leaning toward reducing restrictions related to COVID-19 control in Canada,” the group said in a statement on its website. The survey found that 32% of Canadians strongly agree with the statement that “It’s time to end restrictions and Read more
Florida state tourism officials concede it’s been a rough go with the Omicron variant, but they’re optimistic that Canadians and other visitors will soon be heading south. According to the News Service of Florida and the Tampa Bay Times, Visit Florida President and CEO Dana Young said Wednesday that her group continues to market the Sunshine State as a winter destination in the U.S., and that they’re not slowing international efforts. Florida state economists last month slightly lowered expectations through the middle of 2022 for Canadian and overseas travellers, citing the Omicron variant as a potential brake on tourism growth. Read more
Canadians will soon be able to visit Israel again. At midnight January 9th, Israel is reopening to tourists and other visitors from Orange designated countries, including Canada. “Fully vaccinated people coming to Israel from a country on the ORANGE list must go into 24-hour isolation or isolate until they receive negative PCR or Rapid Test results, which must be taken at Ben Gurion International Airport, whichever is earlier. Testing is done at upon arrival, just following luggage claim, before exiting the terminal,” officials said. Referring to the abolition of isolation for vaccinated people returning from abroad and the return of Read more
A new survey finds that roughly one-third of Canadians have cancelled travel plans due to the Omicron variant. The survey by Canadian-based redflagdeals.com found that 31% of respondents said they’ve cancelled flights because of the variant. Of course, that means nearly 70% plan to go ahead with travel plans. WestJet officials today told me they were very busy over the Christmas weekend. The survey also found that 63% of Canadians are hesitant about booking new flights right now. But Canadians also appear optimistic about the future. While only 22% of Canadians plan to fly in the next one to three Read more
