The federal government admits it spent nearly $400 million of taxpayer dollars over on its designated COVID-19 quarantine facilities during the pandemic. Figures supplied to the media by the Public Health Agency of Canada state that the government spent more than $388 million to run 38 designated quarantine sites across the country between March 2020 and September 2022. The facilities were consistently criticized as overpriced and badly managed, with people complaining bitterly about poor food, cold meals and crowded lobbies with would-be quarantine passengers mingling together. “DQF’s (Designated Quarantine Facilities) and alternate sites were active in a total of 14 Read more
Public Health Agency of Canada
Despite numerous calls to end random testing of arriving passengers at Canadian airports and to ease crowded conditions at airports across the country, the Canadian government today said it’s extending current border measures until at least June 30. In a statement on Twitter (you think they’d put out something more official), the Public Health Agency of Canada today said it will continue the current rules for another month. That would appear to mean random tests for arriving passengers at Canadian airports will continue. PHAC said on Twitter that all travellers, regardless of vaccination status, must continue to submit their information in Read more
Chief Medical Officers of Health for Air Canada, Toronto Pearson, and WestJet are calling on Canadian governments to shift PCR testing from airports to communities. In a letter to Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and senior health officials in the federal and Ontario governments, the health officers said tests are needed at the community level and not for travellers. “Over the last two months, Omicron has quickly become the predominant variant of COVID-19. As it spreads throughout our communities, we need to ensure Canada’s limited testing resources are being used where Canadians need them most—to support our communities, schools, hospitals Read more
The Trudeau government has no plans to follow the U.S. by reducing COVID-19 quarantine times to five days, CTV News reports today. “The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) told CTVNews.ca in a statement on Wednesday that officials are aware of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated guidance and the body will inform Canadians should there be similar steps taken north of the border. “While isolation and quarantine rules may vary across the country based on the directives of local public health experts, federal authorities recommend an isolation period of a minimum of 10 days from the Read more
Canada’s federal auditor general is slamming the way Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) handled the controversial quarantine hotel program this year. A report from auditor general Karen Hogan says PHAC had a hard time keeping track of whether travellers staying in quarantine hotels were actually there. Global News reports that Hogan said PHAC “has no idea whether three-quarters of people who arrived by air earlier this year obeyed the requirement to quarantine at government-authorized hotels as part of the enforcement effort to limit the spread” of the corona virus. “Though the Public Health Agency of Canada improved its results, Read more
