Should Canada have travel restrictions in place?
We’re starting to answer some of the questions you have been sending in around Ebola. This is one of the most common ones we’ve received via email and social media.
When asked why Canada doesn’t have travel restrictions in place, Reimer said that’s a decision made by cabinet officials. She said implementing a ban would require them to assess whether that would be effective and whether there is evidence that the virus has spread outside of the region experiencing the outbreak.
Travel restrictions are a way to “slow the importation of cases,” said Vinh.
But are they necessary?
“These measures can be temporarily useful to gain time, especially with the uncertainty of the outbreak that’s going on regionally and the fragile health-care systems in the affected regions,” he said.
“But historically, the most effective measures have been rapid detection, isolation of cases, contact tracing and protecting health-care workers.”
He stressed that Canada has Ebola protocols in place and that “we’re not anywhere in a situation that involves generalized border closures.”
What questions do you have about Ebola? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
