Canada-U.S. COVID-19 travel testing policy 'doesn't intuitively make sense': doctor

Montreal -

With the Canada-U.S. border reopening to drivers on Monday, vaccinated Canadian travellers are shelling out hundreds of dollars for COVID-19 tests in order to re-enter their own country after their trip.

Those looking to drive south of the border won’t need to provide a negative test to enter the States, but they will when they want to come home – even if they’re fully vaccinated.

That PCR test (not a rapid one) needs to have been conducted no more than 72 hours prior to crossing the border into Canada.

That means people going to the U.S. can get their swab at home, cross the border for a couple of days, and come back with the results of a test taken before their trip.

It’s a “ridiculous” requirement, as described by one traveller who was waiting in line at a testing centre on Sainte-Catherine St. in Montreal on Saturday.

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While getting a result from public health tests can take days, independent clinics can provide a quicker one -- if you’re willing to pay the price.

At RPD Testing, you can get PCR results within in 24 hours for about $200, meaning the costs of a family vacation south of the border can add up quick.

"Yeah, the cost is substantial," said the centre's co-founder Kevin Me. But it's "still an affordable cost compared to the airport or other competitors."

Critics of the government's system say it’s a high price to pay for a test that doesn’t do much to confirm the returning traveller is coronavirus-free.

“It doesn’t intuitively make sense,” said Dr. Donald Vinh, an infection disease specialist at the MUHC.

“If your goal is to prevent the importation of COVID-19, for example, because of new variants or because of concerns of transmission into the community that doesn’t have good vaccination rates,” he said, “they would need to have a different plan than the one that’s currently in place.”

A different plan may be in the works, according to Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam.

“Just to reassure everybody,” said Tam during a press conference this week, “we are looking at that quite carefully.”

“We will be examining epidemiologic factors between Canada and the United States.”