Lack of social distancing at YVR worries nursing instructor

RICHMOND (NEWS 1130) — A nursing instructor is shocked after seeing the number of people ignoring social distancing rules at the Vancouver International Airport.

Sarah Desbiens picked her daughter up from the airport Thursday night only to find many people violating the public safety orders. She says she watched other passengers arriving from the U.K. hugging the people picking them and cab drivers not wearing gloves or masks.

“Think about your vehicle as being a vector. Even if you use a garbage bag as a 10-cent solution. Put a bit of bleach, dilute it in water, and make sure you spray everything down. Wash hands before you go into a car. Certainly have a shower, change your clothes after you’ve transported somebody in your car,” she says.

The registered nurse, who works at BC Women’s Hospital and Vancouver Community College, says some taxi drivers are spraying down their cars with disinfectant, but few are wearing gloves.

Desbiens says it’s clear many people still aren’t getting the message.

“I did see one other person wearing gloves that you would normally do the dishes with and wearing a face mask. Everybody else, nothing, no protective gear.”

To pick her daughter up, Desbiens says she had set up her car like “a quarantine station” covered in plastic, while she was wearing a mask.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting to see,” she says of the airport, but adds she thought she would have seen some people at least trying to distance themselves and wear protective gear.

She says it seems like people don’t understand how to pick up a patient who will need to be quarantined.

But she isn’t placing blame on the airport.

“What is the public health message that people are getting, or not understanding in terms of how to protect themselves and to stop the spread as they’re carrying these high-risk passengers from the airport to their home,” she says.

“How come I look like I’m in the movie E.T. and everyone else is just carrying on business as usual? It kind of blew my mind,” she says.

Craig Richmond, President and CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority, says the situation is unprecedented and the airport is trying to do all they can

“We have all kinds of signage in the airport, marking on the floors, and PA announcement telling people to keep their distance. They should be able to. We’re not as busy as we were three months ago. There should be lots of room,” he says. “I think it’s hard for people. They’re not used to distancing in an airport. It’s one of those learned behaviour things.”

Richmond says he thinks it will take time for people to adjust. In addition, he says the airport has stopped all construction because it can’t ensure social distancing while getting the work done.

He was actually set to retire but agreed to stay on in his role at the airport considering the situation.

“I know all the people too well, and you want to be beside them something like this happens,” Richmond says.

Public health officials have continuously stressed the importance of social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19. On Friday, the provincial health officer shared a model of how the situation could escalate if people do not follow the guidelines put forward.

“We are starting to see some glimmers of hope if we will that we’ve flattened out our increase our trajectory has leveled off a bit, we need to see that continue and of course ideally we want to see it go down,” Dr. Bonnie Henry says.