Is it time for P.E.I. to drop COVID-19 flight exposure notices?

Some in the Island'stravel industry are calling on P.E.I. to follow the lead of a few otherprovinces and stop issuing COVID-19 flight exposure notices.

Any time a traveller on a flight to Charlottetown tests positive, a notice is posted on the P.E.I. government websiteand in media releases.It includesthe flight number, and advice for anyone who was on that flight to get tested if they start having symptoms.

Paulette Soloman,owner of TheTravel Store,worries the notices may leave the wrong impression about the safety of air travel in Canada, particularly nowthat passengers 12 years of age and older needto be fully vaccinated, and are still required to wear masks on board.

"I do think that anything that causes fear or concern about travel or flying is a worry for us," said Soloman. "We would like to see any positive steps that can be taken to encourage travel and put our faith in the vaccine and all the other measures being taken on flights."

It'snot clearwhether any passengers have contracted the virus on a flight to P.E.I.

But even before vaccination became mandatory, Canada's Chief Public Health OfficerDr. Theresa Tamsaid COVID-19 transmission on flights was"extremely rare."

She attributed that to airlines' cleaning and safety measures, and effective filtration systems.

That already-low transmission riskcoupled with the new vaccination requirements for air travellershas prompted some provinces, including British Columbia,to stop issuing exposure notices.

"Travel exposure notifications were a tool used early in the pandemic before highly effective vaccines were available and the risk of transmission in these settings was less well known,"the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said in an email to CBC.

"As vaccination levels rose and travel requirements harmonized across the country (i.e. masks, vaccination passports), the likelihood of in-flight transmission lessened. A recent report suggests there is around one transmission per 1.7 million air travellers."

'It's just a good reminder'

But in her briefing Tuesday, P.E.I.Chief Public Health OfficerDr. Heather Morrisonsaid shethinks the flight notices still hold value.

"It's just a good reminder," said Morrison."The flight notifications may make people think, 'oh well, if I'm having some symptoms, and I was on that flight, maybe I should go get tested.'"

Soloman points out travellers are already required to get tested as soon as they land at the Charlottetown Airport, and are advised to get a second test four to eight days after their arrival.International travellers are now required to get that second test on Day 4.

"I think if we follow those guidelines, we'll be as safe as we possibly could be anyway," said Soloman. "I think the other precautions we're taking are probably doing the job."

Morrison hasn'truled out dropping flight exposure notices eventually.She said it is an issue she discussed recently with the province's epidemiologist.

"We may move away from that at some point," she said."That would certainly be where we'd like to get by the springtime hopefully.It'll be a more a messaging of 'only if you're ill, get tested.'And that would mean fewer public notifications."