VICTORIA -- Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say they appreciate new information-sharing policies that WestJet has put in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While the federal government regulates the airline industry, WestJet representatives met with us earlier this month to hear from us directly on how they could help,” said Henry and Dix in a joint statement Friday.
“The decision they announced today – to collect names and contact information for each of their passengers at check-in and share it with public health if a COVID-19 case is identified on a flight – is something we discussed at that meeting and will help us immensely,” said the pair.
Health officials say that the new policy will be in effect for all WestJet, WestJet Encore, WestJet Link and Swoop flights during the pandemic.
As B.C. continues to open its economy amid the pandemic, health officials say that contact tracing is one of the most critical tools available to manage the spread of COVID-19.
In early August, the B.C. government called on the federal government to ensure that more specific information on airline passengers would be available to the province, if the passenger was on a flight that may have exposed them to COVID-19.
"We encourage the federal government to ensure the data gathered is usable and traces back to the individual traveller directly," said B.C. Minister of Transportation Claire Trevena in a letter to Ottawa, the premier and airline executives, like WestJet, Air Canada and the Vancouver International Airport.
