Catching up on some news from last week here with this announcement that came from Air Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart. This news follows on the heels of Hawaii’s announcement that they will now accept select testing from Canada so that Canadians can avoid the 14 day quarantine period that Hawaii has imposed for those coming to the islands. You’ll have to note however that the island of Kauai has opted out of the pre-departure testing exemption which means all visitors (even those from neighbouring islands) have to quarantine for 14 days as of December 2nd.
Now back to the main news for this post – starting December 7 customers who have eligible Air Canada tickets can book a COVID-19 test at participating Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. They state results should be provided within 24-48 hours of testing which falls into the 72 hour requirement set out by Hawaii and other jurisdictions requiring a negative PCR test prior to departure.
Air Canada’s news came a week after WestJet announced their partnership for pre-departure testing although Air Canada’s already eclipses WestJet as the latter is only set up for testing in Alberta. As mentioned Air Canada is offering it out of three provinces with Shoppers Drug Mart but on Air Canada’s website the list even has locations in Quebec that are approved by the State of Hawaii:
If you do choose to go to one of the Shoppers Drug Mart locations these are the steps you are required to take:
In order to be tested you must:
1. Have an upcoming flight and can provide flight details as confirmation
2. Be asymptomatic (you have no symptoms of COVID-19)*
3. Have not been in contact with someone known to have COVID-19 within the past 14 days**
4. Have not travelled outside of Canada within the last 14 days
5. Have not been advised to get tested for COVID-19 by your local
public health unit due to exposure to a confirmed case or as part of an
outbreak investigation6. Have not been advised to get tested for COVID-19 through an exposure notification through the COVID-19 app
7. Have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 within the past 30 days
If you meet those requirements you can go online on Shoppers Drug Mart’s website to book your test.
Source Air Canada
Image via Air Canada