Only 14 flights with COVID-19 on board passed through B.C. airports last week

Vancouver -

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has added four more flights to its list of COVID-19 exposures, bringing the total number of notifications for the week to just 14.

That's the lowest weekly total B.C. has seen since CTV News Vancouver began tracking earlier this year.

After adding 10 flights to the list between Sunday and Wednesday, the centre added two flights on Thursday and two more on Friday. 

The latest additions to the list either took off from or landed at a B.C. airport between June 6 and June 8. Details of the flights added follow.

• June 6: American Airlines flight 1415 from Dallas to Vancouver (rows not reported)
• June 6: Swoop flight 164 from Abbotsford to Winnipeg (rows 18 to 24)
• June 7: American Airlines flight 1415 from Dallas to Vancouver (rows 28 to 34)
• June 8: WestJet flight 119 from Calgary to Vancouver (rows one to four)

Anyone who was on any of the listed flights should self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, seeking testing and self-isolating if any develop, according to the BCCDC.

Passengers who were seated in the rows listed are considered to be at greater risk because of their proximity to a confirmed case of the coronavirus.

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

The number of flights with COVID-19 cases on board passing through B.C. airports has declined significantly alongside caseloads since the peak of the pandemic's third wave in April.

B.C. is scheduled to end restrictions on non-essential travel within the province when it moves to Step 2 of its reopening plan, a move widely anticipated to happen on Tuesday.

Health officials have been recommending against non-essential travel within Canada throughout the pandemic, but that recommendation, too, is scheduled to end. B.C. residents will no longer be discouraged from domestic travel for recreational purposes when the province enters Step 3 of its plan, a change that will happen on July 1 at the earliest.

Last week, the federal government announced that it would be changing its rules for international travel as early as July, removing the 14-day quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated Canadians returning from abroad. 

International tourists - even fully vaccinated ones - would not be allowed to skip the quarantine, at least during the first phase over the federal government's gradual easing of border restrictions.

Tourism-reliant businesses in B.C. have criticized the move, saying business could be even worse this summer than it was in 2020 if Canadians are able to travel abroad but international visitors aren't allowed to come.