B.C. no longer posting COVID-19 exposure notifications for flights

(@CDCofBC/Twitter)

Vancouver -

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control is no longer posting notifications about COVID-19 exposures on flights to and from the province.

A message on the centre's website indicates that it has ceased posting exposure notices as of Nov. 16. 

"All passengers are required to be fully vaccinated to board a plane, train or cruise ship for domestic travel in Canada as well as to enter Canada from international travel," the message reads.

"Anyone who is travelling should monitor their health before, during and after travel. If you develop symptoms, self-isolate and get tested."

B.C. is not the first province to stop publishing exposure warnings. The federal government's COVID-19 exposure website indicates that Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have all been providing limited information on such cases to the Public Health Agency of Canada for months. 

In B.C., the change does not appear to come alongside a decreased volume of coronavirus exposures.

CTV News Vancouver's monthly tracking of flight exposures shows September and October saw B.C.'s second- and third-highest exposure totals, respectively, since the pandemic began. The all-time record was set in August.

CTV News Vancouver tracking of flight exposure notifications since the pandemic began.

Data for November is incomplete, but the rate of posted notifications does not appear to have slowed down significantly, if at all.

As of Nov. 16, there had been a total of 78 flights that took off from or landed at B.C. airports and had a confirmed COVID-19 case on board and had been added to the BCCDC list.

The most recent flight added to the list landed on Nov. 13, but there's typically a lag between when a flight lands and when an exposure notification is posted. Most of the 78 flights on the list for November landed between Nov. 1 and 7.

On just those seven days, there were 62 flights added to the list, a rate of just under nine per day. That would put B.C. on pace for roughly 266 flight exposures this month, on par with September and October.

Studies suggest that the risk of contracting COVID-19 on an airplane is low, though there have been some examples of it happening. 

In total, the BCCDC posted exposure notifications about 2,972 flights from the start of the pandemic to Nov. 16.

The vast majority of those - 2,165, or 73 per cent - were domestic flights. The requirement that passengers on domestic flights be fully vaccinated took effect on Oct. 30. 

CTV News Vancouver flight exposure tracking.