HALIFAX -- Atlantic Canadian travellers are cutting vacations short to get home as soon as possible amidst concerns over the novel coronavirus.
On Monday, passengers arriving at Halifax Stanfield International Airport were met by provincial public health inspectors telling anyone arriving from outside Canada to self-quarantine for 14 days. They also handed out information on the government’s self-isolation requirement.
“We really want to make sure that passengers understand what is in place here in Nova Scotia once they arrive back from an area outside of Canada,” says Halifax Stanfield International Airport spokesperson, Tiffany Chase.
In the afternoon Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, urged Canadians abroad to come home while they have the chance, as Canada is shutting the border to non-Canadian citizens, with limited exceptions, to limit the spread of COVID-19.,
Currently, Halifax Stanfield International Airport does not have direct international flights. The only flights it does have are flights to the United States and to South American destinations such as Mexico, which are currently not affected.
Pam Cooley was supposed to spend a month in Mexico. Instead, she decided to head home early once she heard the federal government was encouraging Canadians to do so.
“You know, I wasn’t so much worried about the coronavirus itself,” she says. “It was more like I wanted to get back with my family, and I wanted to make sure that I got back before anything else happens, like border closing.”
Now that she is home, Cooley will be self-isolating for 14 days – something the Nova Scotia government is asking all residents who have travelled outside Canada to do.
Another family says they’ve had a similar experience. The Wheelers, who travelled from Labrador to Cuba in early March, began their homebound trek a day early when they heard news of the severity of Europe’s COVID-19 situation.
“As the days started going by, everything started to go downhill,” says Shelley Wheeler, who notes her family will go into self-isolation when they return home.
“We’re all fine, but we just wanted to come back into our country. If we were to get sick or something, we’d be here,” says Wheeler. “These things can’t be helped, and you have to do what you can to keep it from spreading.”
Additionally, Halifax native, Cameron Francis, who lives and works in Los Angeles, decided to leave as soon as he could.
“I was really scared that I might be stuck in the United States and that the pandemic would be much more serious and that I would be stuck there and unable to get to my parents and my family, so I came back,” says Francis.
Meanwhile, amid the uncertainty of COVID-19 and its spread, the airport has installed more hand sanitizing stations. In addition, it is also undergoing extra cleaning protocols to prevent travellers from being exposed to the fast-moving virus.
