Local snowbirds find creative ways to avoid quarantine hotels

To get back to Flamborough from Florida, Howard Tyrrell flew to Niagara Falls, N.Y., took a taxi to the border and walked over the Rainbow Bridge.

His brother and son were there waiting, and had travelled in two cars so he could drive home alone to start his quarantine.

The little wheels on my suitcase were burning hot," said Tyrrell, 77, on March 16, a day after his return.

It may seem like a complicated route, but for many local snowbirds, figuring out how to avoid the federally mandated quarantine hotels that come with flying into Canada is now par for the course.

While public health officials have advised against travel since early in the pandemic, several local snowbirds told The Spectator there's no law against travel, and most said they're being careful while in Florida.

They blame the Canadian government for creating inconsistent rules that add expense but do little to deter snowbirds: they're just making more creative travel arrangements to get to and from their winter homes.

The whole thing is inconsistent," says Burlington resident Peter MacMillan, 68, who owns a home in Fort Myers. He said the mandatory hotel stay is pushing more people to return home by car, as he plans to do. That strategy requires planning because the United States' land borders are closed to non-essential travel, which makes it difficult for non-citizens to enter the country by car.

MacMillan says he knows several people who have spent thousands" to have their cars shipped across the border, and then flew into the U.S. - which is still allowed - to reunite with their vehicles. That way, they can use their cars in Florida, and drive home to avoid the hotel.

MacMillan is a dual citizen, so he was able to drive his car into the U.S., while his wife - who is Canadian - flew. They will both return together in the car.

He says he's living a low-risk lifestyle in Florida: he's been vaccinated, he only socializes outdoors and he goes to the grocery store once a week. When he returns home, he'll have to show proof of a negative COVID test in the past 72 hours at the border - even though it could take that long to get there, and won't reflect any transmission that occurs on the drive.

Would it not make more sense that you were tested at the border?" MacMillan told The Spectator. What's the point of being tested in Florida and showing up at the border three days later?"

Allan Pearson, 63, owns a home in Naples, Fla., and has decided to stay there and wait it out to avoid the quarantine hotel. The Burlington resident likens the border measures to taking a sledgehammer to a thumb tack .... (Quarantine hotel guests) get 20 minutes of escorted fresh-air time a day. Prisoners get more than that."

This is Pearson's second trip out of the country since the fall - he and his wife went to California in November to visit their daughter - but he believes he is travelling safely because he flies in a private jet, meaning exposure to two pilots only.

We weighed the risks. If we had to fly commercially, I probably wouldn't have done it," he said, noting his behaviour in Florida involves social distancing and all the measures he would follow at home. I have a problem with someone jumping on a plane and staying in Cancun at an all-inclusive resort for a week. That's just asking for issues and problems."

While many may not approve of the decision to travel, Amanda Parriag isn't surprised that interpretations of what's acceptable vary so widely.

Parriag - a communications consultant and public health researcher with a PhD in psychology - says inconsistent messaging between different levels of government, and sometimes even within governments, have given the guidelines less credence.

The messaging is not clear and is not covering all the bases," says Parriag, a former Hamilton resident who now runs Ottawa consulting firm ParriagGroup. We have been in this pandemic for pretty well a year now and people are frustrated. If there's a gap in the messaging people can exploit, they are going to take it. It's not because we're bad people - we are tired."

Parriag points to government decisions - such as delaying the Christmas lockdown in Ontario - that appear to be more based in business interests than science. There's a conflict there ... When credibility is diluted, it creates a void."

She says seeing government officials travel internationally over the holidays has also played a role. The message is that it's the ... regular Canadians who (should) not travel, but for us (government officials), we can travel. It diminishes the risks ... They went, they came back, and not only was there no (appearance of) risk, there was no accountability."

Getting everyone on the same page of acceptable behaviour would take more explicit and co-ordinated instructions from all levels of government than what we've seen so far, Parriag says.

Travel is not illegal," she adds. People may very much see it as a right. They'll say, I am not being told that I can't do it. I am being told there's a penalty when I come back.'"

Donalyn Fox, 67, is a Burlington resident with property in Cape Coral, Fla. She rushed home from her Florida place last spring when COVID hit, but didn't close it up properly, so flew back in November to do that. She says she maintained a five-person bubble in Florida, and double-masked and wore a face shield during her air travel.

Now back in Burlington, Fox says she was hoping to return to Florida in the spring but has been deterred by the quarantine hotel requirement.

I don't trust any hotels," she told The Spec. I am safer quarantining at my home than any hotel. I understand the need for it but I am going to stay home."

Saira Peesker is a freelance writer who lives in Hamilton.