Why not Canada?

[LoveFall]

Woke this morning to news that US travelers will be able to enter England without quarantine if double vaxed.

But not Canadians.

DH and I are gutted. We have a trip to see son and family planned in September and it is rapidly going sideways with flights cancelled and no relaxing of quarantine. We just want to hug our family again.

Does anyone know why Canada is left out? Our numbers are better than the US. We are double vaxed with Pfizer.

It doesn't make sense. Any insights?

thanks, that's useful to know

I was going on what Simon Calder, the travel editor in some newspapers, had said in a recent article - he thought it would invalidate most policies. But it's good that there are alternative companies that allow it.

@sirfredfredgeorge

Isn't it purely about the sharing of the vaccination status in a way that can be actually validated (and not just someone turning up with a print out they've made) and only the US and EU have provided the systems so far?

The US hasn’t provided a system though.

The batch numbers and other details need to be loaded in systems to validate vaccination QR codes.

What systems are they being loaded into?

Everyone who’s flown US to UK that I’ve conversed with has just shown their CDC vaccination cards, along with a passenger locator form and a Fit to Fly printout showing a recent negative Covid test. A few used Verifly but it wasn’t required.

Are there new systems coming in?

I appreciate everyone's views. To those who feel I might be a bit crass or overstating things, that's fair enough. It is a first world problem, after all.

Yes, we can isolate in our rental place for 5 days and we may just do that as we really want to go. But I know it will be difficult. Not so much really for me, but very difficult for DH. I am happy to read, draw and paint. DH likes to be out doing things.

I only want things to be fair and based on science. I am sorry so many of you in the UK have had to isolate. My family there had to as one of the kids tested positive. It is very hard.

I expect it’s political and to do with wanting trade deals with the US and EU.

@Pissedoff1234 unfortunately it really isn’t a case of ‘just xyz’ for a lot of people.
If someone from Canada wants to visit the UK the 5 day isolation is half most people’s paid vacation time. (10 days paid vacation is a lot of people’s years amount).
We are here on work permits so are seen as temporary workers (even though we’ve been here two years, have two more years on our visas and have applications in for PR) so we would have to apply for an exemption to Immigration Canada in order to have my parents visit.
There is no ‘just’ about any of these rules.

Both governments have to agree.

Its perfectly possible that the uk said yes, and Canada said no - especially if they are still under restrictions atm.

I have family in Canada, one of whom is currently not too well.

@ElCaMum I was answering the OP who said they were retired so therefore probably aren't on a fixed timescale. So for their circumstances, I would just isolate for 5 days. I have not commented on anybody else's circumstances which will of course be different as is the case with most scenarios.

Justin Trudeau probably upset Boris Johnson. At least that would make sense.

As illogical as the economic sanctions on the French, dressed up as Covid restrictions.

Yes we are retired but we can't just stay in England for lengthy periods. It costs a lot to rent a place and our family live in an expensive university city. We rent the place because it is very close to their home, which is too small for us to stay with them more than a few days. We usually stay about a month.

We use our rental as a place to cook and eat meals as a family, look after the kids etc. It works super well because it is a two minute walk.
They come over after school and work, and can then leave in time for the girls' bedtimes.

It is even more important this year as they are renovating and our place will be a refuge.

It is a significant financial strain but worth it. For DH, he feels he is going home. He has two siblings in England also.

I did not mean to sound like a whiner, at all. I just really feel it makes no sense to open up to the entire USA and EU but not Canada. The US is so huge population wise compared to us.

Canadian media is just saying no reason has been given by the UK. I doubt it was Canada's doing. Our Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was asked about this and her answer was we respect the UK's sovereignty to decide who can come and on what terms.

So here's another illogical situation for you.

Double vaccinated people from the US who land or landed in the UK any time before Monday morning still have to quarantine for the full 5 (if doing test to release) or 10 days. They cannot come out of isolation on Monday.

Double vaccinated people who arrive from the US on Monday or any date after that do not have to quarantine at all.

This is according to the people from test and trace who are calling to check on the recent arrivals.

@Pissedoff1234, apologies for my misunderstanding.