A group is urging the Canadian government to ban non-essential travel during spring break in order to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Launched in May 2020 by 22-year-old Lauren Holmes, partyresponsibly.ca was the first national platform dedicated to helping stop the spread of the virus by raising awareness of responsible social gathering/ partying behaviour among young adults 19+ while social gathering restrictions are in place.
Now, Holmes is encouraging the federal government to ban non-essential international travel in February and March to avoid "reading weeks/spring break/March break surge in cases among 19-year-old to 29-year-old Canadians."
https://t.co/NGbn4bBpFg is urging the federal government to ban non-essential international travel in February and March to avoid reading weeks/spring break/March break surge in cases among 19-29 year olds (the group with the most active cases - 18.9% of total). pic.twitter.com/FXYRM2Jpux
— PartyResponsibly.ca (@PartyResponsbly) January 27, 2021
Party Responsibly in Canada
While it may seem like an oxymoron, there are ways to "party responsibly" during the pandemic--provided they fall within one's provincial social gathering restrictions.
That said, partying safely looks decidedly different these days--no matter where in Canada you reside. For British Columbians, parties should be virtual, or with people in their immediate household.
For people who live alone, a core bubble is a maximum of two people you see regularly--so you can "party" with that person(s).
The PHO on Gatherings states that social interactions and close contact between people are associated with significant increases in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and increases in the number of people who develop COVID-19 and become seriously ill.
Right now, the current order is in effect until Feb. 5, 2021 at midnight.
100 experts sign petition calling on the Canadian government to close borders to nonessential travel
100 epidemiologists, virologists, doctors, scientists and health care professionals have signed a petition urging immediate Federal government action to protect Canadians from importations of dangerous COVID variants.
The report, entitled Shielding Canadians from Variants of Concern, states that highly-infectious mutant variants of the SARs-CoV-2 virus (known as Variants of Concern) are circulating internationally and they "represent a clear and present danger to Canada's health security and economic well-being."
Successfully blocking COVID Variants at the border.
Countries including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea are successfully blocking COVID Variants at the border. Drawing from these international examples, the Canadian health experts recommend the following immediate actions:
- Restrict international travel to essential travel only.
- Test all travellers immediately on arrival, after 5 days, and a third time at 10 days.
- Enhance quarantine measures and strongly consider mandatory quarantine in designated hotels for all incoming travellers.
- Vaccinate, as a joint US-Canadian responsibility, the 200-300,000 truckers and 25-50,000 essential workers that make up the majority of US-Canada land-border crossings.
While there currently isn't a law against travel outside of Canada during the pandemic, the federal government says you should avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice.
