It seems that travel options to Italy are improving, although it will still be necessary to jump through a few hoops......
There probably won't be much interest in travelling anywhere outside Canada until the government changes those goofy rules about hotel quarantines.
They aren’t goofy quarantine rules - they are there for yours and everybody else’s safety. We have similar rules in the U.K. This thing isn’t over by a long way and my money is on further lockdowns and more quarantine soon, as we aren’t on top of it enough to open up the world.
Things get shut down quicker than they open up.
Certainly more available options, including for Americans:
U.S. customers transiting through Canada to Italy on one of our direct flights to Rome can also benefit from this program,” the airline said
And one of the links says that fines will go up for people “refusing” quarantines. How can you refuse the requirement? I believe they have to at least accept the start a quarantine, but I suppose this means some are abandoning it before fully completing it. Or are they just given a menu with a price list, and paying accordingly?:
Some travellers have been choosing to pay the $3,000 rather than submit to the quarantine process, which involves taking a COVID-19 test at the airport and then staying in a hotel for up to 72 hours while awaiting the result, at a personal cost of up to $2,000
I agree with Jennifer. The rules aren't goofy. And with the rise of the Delta variant here, which is twice as transmissible and much more likely to result in severe illness in the unvaccinated, now is not the time to drop the quarantine regulations. Here in Ontario they're already warning of a possible 4th wave.
Good news for some, but Canadians have been becoming less compliant on the return home rules. I haven't paid too much attention to the rules but see articles that people are somehow working around them.
Also, when testing is high, even a 48 hour result isn't guaranteed.
It appears that some clarification is required concerning my comments about "goofy rules about hotel quarantines". I was specifically referring to the manner in which the hotel quarantine system was implemented here in Canada. It was not organized well and conditions in some quarantine hotels across the country were atrocious. Here's one example......
The other issue seems to be that the hotel quarantine wasn't applied universally to all travellers but only those who arrive by air. Many people have avoided this by flying to border airports and then using a shuttle or taxi to cross the land borders, and then quarantine in their own homes.
I certainly agree that quarantines are absolutely necessary to keep everyone safe but it's disappointing that the hotel quarantine system here was not better organized.
