B.C. no longer posting COVID-19 exposure notifications for flights
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.