Skip to content

LETTER - Air travel should be shut down until we flatten the COVID-19 curve in B.C.

Dear editor,
24250843_web1_210218-CHC-Hope-letter-alzheimers_1

Dear editor,

Too many COVID-19 cases are flying into B.C. and onto Vancouver Island.

On Feb. 15, CTV News reported “The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has added 16 flights to its list of COVID-19 exposures over the last few days” — between Jan. 31 and Feb. 11.

Sixteen flights in 11 days!

Also on Feb. 15, CHEK News revealed that “the second incoming flight for the Island from Calgary in just over two weeks that has been added to the BCCDC exposure list.”

How many cases of the virus have flown from Alberta to Vancouver Island in the past year? Too many. And it just keeps happening.

And do you know that B.C. health officials do not contact everyone who was on a flight with a confirmed case of COVID-19? It’s up to travellers to check notifications posted on the BCCDC website.

We are told to avoid being indoors with others who aren’t members of your own household. How is it safe to be in a tight cabin with dozens of strangers? It obviously isn’t. It is proving to be very dangerous.

How are airlines allowed to continue to get away with this? Shutting down air travel until we stop the upward trend is one big way we could “do better.”

Michael Heydon,

Courtenay