The federal government has admitted that the ArriveCAN app erroneously sent out quarantine notifications to travellers early last week even though they were fully vaccinated and showed no signs of COVID-19 upon crossing into Canada — reports Global News.
Ottawa claims the notifications were the result of a “technical glitch” with the app that has since been fixed. False quarantine orders were sent out to approximately 3% of travellers, and the issue interestingly only affected iPhones.
“The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has identified a technical glitch with the app that affected some users earlier in the week, which could produce an erroneous notification instructing people to quarantine,” government spokesperson Alex Cohen said in a written statement.
“It’s important to emphasize that CBSA and (public health) officials – and not the app – are the ones who determine if an individual is subject to public health restrictions and needs to quarantine.”
Earlier this week, the president of the union that represents Canada’s border agents said that 30-40% of travellers don’t fill out the ArriveCAN app properly or don’t use it at all.
The government’s insistence on the continued use of the app, coupled with people not taking it seriously, is resulting in long lines and delays at Canadian borders. What’s more, border agents are spending more time helping travellers get ArriveCAN sorted than doing their actual jobs.
The ArriveCAN app has also been accused of harming businesses in border communities by discouraging cross-border travel.
Many are calling for ArriveCAN to be axed, and travellers are wondering why they still have to use the app when COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted across the country.
The feds, meanwhile, want to keep ArriveCAN on long after the pandemic is over, using it as a pre-customs screening tool to decrease processing times at the border. Ottawa’s plans are concerning, given how notoriously unreliable the app currently is.
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Why is anyone that isn’t known to be positive or a close contact of a positive being quarantined at all? Is it based on the very out of date belief that unvaccinated people are more likely to be infected or to spread? Both are laughably untrue and based on fear and ignorance. Government policy should not be based on fear and ignorance.
Is it based on the very out of date belief that unvaccinated people are more likely to be infected or to spread? Both are laughably untrue and based on fear and ignorance.
Was curious about this. Canadian Medical Journal posted a study back in April about the effects of mixing unvaccinated and vaccinated people in the general population.
Results: We found that the risk of infection was markedly higher among unvaccinated people than among vaccinated people under all mixing assumptions.
I also found other articles that pretty much inline with the study.
Their article was a mathematical modelling and not a study. Further, omicron had just started emerging, so the data was based on delta and earlier variants. They used assumptions of how well omicron would evade existing immunity. They assumed a 40% reduction in protection from infection, which has turned out to be closer to a complete collapse. Later variants of omicron are even further reduced. Though released in April, it was already well out of date. Also, their model made assumptions at every step, like “vaccines with 80% efficacy would make 80% of people immune from infection”, which means they also can’t spread. Ridiculous, really. Assumptions like that will say exactly what they want it to say. Assuming “unvaxed catch and spread more” will result in a model that they catch and spread more.
One place to look for real data is at the provincial data that was collected. Ontario produced reports with the number of infected in each group of unvaxed, vaxed and boosted. Per 100k of each the numbers for vaxed and unvaxed were basically identical once omicron hit (strangely, boosted showed higher rates of infection for 6 straight months). This was a massive change from delta and earlier, where vaccines actually seemed to reduce spread somewhat.
The mistake here is thinking that there is any kind of logic associated with the decisions of this government.
There is a logic. They clearly want to see how much they can get away with.
Having convinced an unfortunate number of Canadians to ignore facts, science, common sense and critical thinking, it seem the answer is absolutely anything. They just turn off their brains and let Trudeau think for them.
I can’t think of anything he’s been challenged on by the PTSD crowd. Blackface? Suspending constitutional rights? Bullying women that disagree with him and groping others? Graft? Fraud? All seemingly okey-dokey.
I know I might be going into semantics here, but I think I would consider this more following an agenda than logic.
All government in Canada re the same, more or less. People continue to elect dimwits and the majority who hold them most voting power are the elite and corporations.
I don’t always agree with your statements, but on that account I think we are on the same page. Canadians are pretty bad at voting decent people in.
Remaining opinionated is never the appropriate mindset.
Whether someone agrees with me or not makes no difference to me. Eventually most rational people (if they remember) will see that I’m right long after I post.
Then again, any explanation that is in-line with one’s personal biases, beliefs, and core values will be accepted by those who share the same mindset and experiences. That’s how people are wired these days.