Several flights through Vancouver with a confirmed case of COVID-19 are missing from the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) list of public exposures.
The 10 flights appear on the federal government’s COVID-19 exposure warning list, but are currently not included on B.C.’s list.
The flights are:
- Aug. 5, Lufthansa flight 492 from Frankfurt to Vancouver (affected rows: 19 to 25)
- Aug. 5, Air Canada flight 296 from Vancouver to Winnipeg (affected rows: 14 to 20)
- Aug. 6, Flair flight 8101 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 19 to 25)
- Aug. 7, Air Canada flight 128 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 35 to 41)
- Aug. 8, Air Canada flight 128 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows 18 to 23)
- Aug. 8: Philippine Airlines flight 116 from Manila to Vancouver (affected rows 56 to 62)
- Aug. 10: Air Canada flight 116 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 7 to 13)
- Aug. 10: WestJet flight 720 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows 24 to 30)
- Aug. 11: Air Canada flight 116 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 39 to 45)
- Aug. 11: WestJet flight 270 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 4 to 11)
When asked by the Richmond News, a spokesperson for the Provincial Health Services Authority, which oversees the BCCDC, said the agency believes the discrepancy likely occurred because the passengers who contracted the virus aren’t B.C. residents, and that “the province or territory in which these cases reside notified the Public Health Agency of Canada about the exposure, but not the BCCDC.”
“BCCDC staff are connecting with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to ask that they be notified whenever PHAC becomes aware of an exposure on a flight with an origin or destination in B.C. to prevent this situation from occurring in the future," said spokesperson Jane Campbell in an emailed statement.
Typically, said Campbell, flights where exposures may have occurred are identified by the province or territory that’s managing the case during its investigation and contact tracing.
BCCDC adds flights to its public exposures webpage once they are identified as health officials investigate the COVID-19 case, or when the agency is alerted to an exposure on a flight by another province or territory.
