Domestic WestJet passengers can now get a rapid test for COVID-19 at YVR

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A voluntary COVID-19 test pilot project is now live at Vancouver International Airport.

Starting Friday, passengers flying domestic on WestJet will have the option to take part in the program, through which results are expected in less than a half hour.

Passengers with flights scheduled between 6:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time — the busiest time for domestic flights out of YVR — are eligible to participate in the pilot.

“It’s a really simple process with three easy steps,” explains Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. “You get tested, you wait for the results — it takes about 15 minutes, and then you’re on your way.”

Our COVID-19 rapid testing study—the 1st of its kind in Canada has launched in partnership with @WestJet, @UBC & @Providence_Hlth. We’re committed to doing our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19, while instilling confidence in those who need to travel. https://t.co/Y19U08p672 pic.twitter.com/yFPafJgDhP

— YVR (@yvrairport) November 27, 2020

She says there are a number of reasons why YVR decided to partner up with UBC, WestJet, and Providence Health Care, which runs St. Paul’s Hospital, to conduct this pilot. First off, Vrooman points out there hasn’t been a trial of rapid COVID-19 tests in this context in Canada.

“We’re doing this to compliment other trials on arrival, that you might have heard about in Alberta and Toronto, to do our part to add to our collective understanding of it from an operational point of view and also from a health point of view,” she says.

The second reason Vrooman says the airport is facilitating the project is to help researchers and those working to fight COVID-19 better understand how rapid testing work “in an open and community environment.”

“And third, we’re hoping that the way that we’re doing it, using a pod and using some portable services and technology, that if it does work it can be replicated in other contexts; schools, universities, other airports, in the community, and so on,” she explains.

The testing program at YVR differs from the one at Calgary International mainly in that the YYC program tests people arriving from international destinations and does not utilize a rapid testing model.

The goal in Calgary, Vrooman adds, is more to cut down on the 14-day quarantine timeline for people who test negative for COVID-19.

“So, it’s the standard test that we’re most familiar with that is used in the public health context, and it’s on arrival,” she says of the YYC program. “Our test is a test that is for asymptomatic people — so people that aren’t presenting with any symptoms — it gives a screen in 15 minutes, so a rapid turnaround test. If it is negative, you can proceed onto the aircraft.

“If you think about it, at an airport, we screen for security and safety at all parts of the journey before you board an aircraft. This just adds the health component, given the pandemic situation we’re in, to that screening process.”

While the pilot program only took off on Friday, Vrooman says there’s already been a lot of interest from passengers.