B.C. health minister defends pre-flight COVID testing as ‘prudent’
Posted January 5, 2023 2:50 pm.
British Columbia’s health minister is defending a new federal policy kicking in Thursday which requires pre-flight COVID testing for passengers travelling to Canada from China, Hong Kong and Macau.
It comes as virus cases surge in China, and known cases of the new Kraken subvariant rise to 12 in the province.
“I support the federal government’s decision,” health minister Adrian Dix said. “It’s about the issues around the spread of COVID-19 in the world and steps we can take to limit the risk. This is a step that the federal government has taken. One that I support as a temporary measure for the next month, and we’ll assess its impact, I’m sure they’ll assess its impact in that time. I think it’s the right step to take. It’s a prudent step to take.”
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The pre-flight testing policy has been labelled as political by the Chinese government, and some advocates locally have suggested the policy will stigmatize Asian Canadians.
But Dix is backing the federal policy.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned about COVID-19 and about the health of the world, it’s that we’re all on the same planet, and what happens in one jurisdiction can affect other jurisdictions,” Dix said.
“There shouldn’t be any politics in that. You take prudent steps when required.”
Dix says the feds will review the policy in a month, and argues it is not an excessive step — pointing out other countries have required travelling Canadians to undergo pre-flight COVID testing at various stages of the pandemic.
Earlier in the week, a B.C. doctor expressed concern over the travel rules, worrying it may instigate more anti-Asian hate that has been seen throughout the pandemic.
“My biggest concern with this somewhat goal-less policy that is directed at China, Hong Kong, and Macao, it brings us back to March 2020 when there was a rise of anti-Asian hate. And we still haven’t quelled that since it started rising,” said Dr. Anna Wolak on Tuesday.
“We shouldn’t be isolating just to China because we know variants can be developed anywhere in the world,” she added.
With files from Greg Bowman
