On Sunday night, the two of us, along with our two adult children, returned from a week spent in the U.K. attending a family funeral.
We followed all U.K. COVID protocols which included a self-administered and government-approved lateral flow test which had to be uploaded to the U.K. government website.
We took lateral flow tests ourselves every second day to make sure we were negative. We wore masks in public and avoided crowded places.
In order to return to Canada, we needed to undergo a PCR test within 72 hours of departure. This is harder than it sounds as you can’t do it too early in case your flight is delayed and you can’t do it too late, in case the results do not come through in time – especially stressful when traveling on a Sunday, as we were doing.
Nevertheless, we took the required tests (at a cost of more than $100 each) and received the results in time. We made sure the resulting PDFs were on our phones and we uploaded our documents on the Arrive CAN App.
When going through Canadian immigration, we were not asked to show the results of our PCR test but assumed they had received them electronically.
While lined up in customs, we heard some passengers tell the Canadian authorities that they had not completed a PCR test before arrival, and that seemed fine with the border officials who advised they would have to quarantine.
We had understood that you could not even get on the plane back to Canada without a PCR test.
When we cleared customs, we were advised that we had been selected for further testing on arrival. Many of those coming off our flight from London received the same directions.
In the next room, we lined up to speak with LifeLabs staff who provided a pen and a torn-off piece of paper to write down our addresses, emails and phone numbers, etc. The staff spent about 10 minutes typing all this into their laptops.
We were puzzled because all of our personal information, including our COVID vaccinations and test results, was attached electronically to our passport number (and they held our passports in their hands) and through our B.C. health numbers.
This documentation had been verified in London at the airport and we could not have boarded the flight without it.
We were asked to verify the information they had typed in and provided with a self-testing kit to take home. These LifeLab clerical staff seemed like they had started this job just a few hours earlier because they were not able to properly answer any of our questions.
However, we had recently completed self-tests in the U.K. so we assumed it was a similar rapid home test kit and went on our way. On our way to our connecting flight, we passed by a mini-lab collecting COVID samples from other passengers, but were not stopped by any staff, nor offered an actual test at the airport.
When preparing to do the tests the next day, we found that we were now, in fact, in quarantine until the tests were complete and the results confirmed. We also discovered that we could have simply had the test done by a clinician at that airport lab and all would have been over.
But no-one had told us this!
The instructions stated that these tests were for vaccinated Canadians returning to Canada from any country … other than the U.S.! That particular petri-dish of a nation should be the place where we are most careful about the health status of returning Canadians.
We are both professional people and we want to follow all COVID-related rules as we have for the past two years. LifeLabs, presumably in partnership with the federal government, have somehow created the most complicated instructions imaginable.
The website has numerous dead-ends and FAQs that do not answer the questions you have. One is regularly kicked out so you have to start again. The helpline, of course, has long references about how to find out the information on the website – notwithstanding that the reason why you are calling is because the website is so terrible.
I cannot imagine that they tested this out on a real person.
The test has to be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams with a LifeLabs staff member watching your every step. It takes about 20 minutes for something that should take less than five minutes.
The completed tests are shipped to Surrey. There is a reference in the material stating that the tests may be assessed in another country.
Although we are supposed to be in quarantine, the staff we spoke to during the virtual test advised that we could drop the sample off at Shoppers Drug Mart, which does not seem to be part of quarantine.
The supreme irony is that while we are triple vaccinated, provided the required PCR test and attempted to abide by rules even when they were ridiculous and badly-administered, a few thousand people who decided to drive a literal truck through dozens of laws and fundamentals of basic human decency remain untouched and unaffected.
