AirB-N-Quarantine? Metro Vancouver rooms are being rented out for isolating travellers

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – They aren’t exactly AirBnBs, but they look awfully similar.

If you search around social media, you’ll find quarantine rental suites in Metro Vancouver — many of them being rooms in homes — for people who are coming into Canada and want an alternative to a hotel once they’ve left the mandated government accommodation.

The quarantine rentals can be quite extensive. Some include food and shuttle service, beyond the bare essentials. From the ads viewed by NEWS 1130, fees seem to be around $75 per day, although prices can go higher than that.

An Facebook ad for a “Quarantine rental” home in Metro Vancouver. (Facebook/Screenshot)

We asked the City of Vancouver about the legality of these suites, but were told it has no jurisdiction over quarantine rentals.

“There is no business license for this pandemic regulation established by the federal government, and the City has not received any direction or authority from the federal government to monitor quarantine accommodations,” the city said in a statement.

NEWS 1130 reached out to Surrey and Burnaby, neither of which wished to comment.

Based on many of the online ads, other people are living in the same residence, and that comes with potential health concerns.

UBC Public Health professor Michael Brauer says COVID-19 transmission is possible through ventilation systems, if windows remain closed.

“It really depends on if they are sharing a ventilation system and if the windows are otherwise closed … meaning the ventilation system is the only way or the main way air is moving throughout the house.”

Brauer says if a single-storey suite is being subleased and only a door is dividing quarantining tenants from other residents, COVID-19 transmission concerns would be high because a door does not block air circulation.

“The air is circulating. The only thing I would imagine is blocking a door … Doors are not sealed, so the air is moving back and forth quite readily in that space so that’s a higher risk,” he said.

To reduce the risk of transmission, quarantine tenants would have to keep the windows open when possible, quarantine on a different floor, and avoid contact with anyone living in the home.

An Facebook ad for a “Quarantine rental” home in Metro Vancouver. (Facebook/Screenshot)

Rhitik Vasan, who rents out his basement suite, tells his clients his accommodation is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized.

“[Crews] come in and clean the whole basement,” he said, adding the suite is then left empty for 24 to 48 hours prior to the next quarantine clients. That said, this may not be the case for all quarantine rentals.

Vasan says before picking up travellers, he checks to see if they’ve had a negative COVID-19 test result.

“We don’t pick them up from the airport, we pick them up from their assigned hotel. After their hotel stay, we pick them up from their hotel once they get their negative result,” he explained.

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• UBC students say pricey hotel quarantine not accessible, calls for alternative

Once the tenants are taken to their quarantine suite, Vasan says he sets guidelines in an effort to ensure tenants don’t leave their accommodation.

“I will be providing them all the necessities like food and water, so that they don’t have to go out and don’t have to order food. Also, I’m telling them that this is their premises from where they don’t have to move out and ensuring they have their address on the ArriveCAN app,” he said, in reference to an app where people provide mandatory travel information upon arrival and after entering the country.

Health officials expect travellers to find their own quarantine accommodation after their three-day mandated hotel stay.