Fully vaccinated traveller frustrated with new COVID-19 testing rules

Coming home for some travellers once again means a stay in a quarantine hotel -- and for some, vaccine status does not matter.

"I have three tests saying that I don't have COVID. Like, it's negative, I'm fully vaccinated, I just want to go home," sais Jessica Sirois from her hotel near Pearson airport.

Sirois few to Cairo on Nov. 26. Four days later, Egypt became one of 10 counties banned from flying to Canada as part of enhanced restrictions due to the Omicron variant.

"When I left the country, there were no restrictions so ...everything was fine," Sirois said.

Then the rules changed. To get home, Sirois had to get a negative PCR test in Cairo before boarding the plane. Next, she had to get a second negative test in London, England in order to board a connecting flight to Toronto. Once her flight landed in Toronto, Sirois was tested at the airport and sent in a school bus to a quarantine hotel.

"I'm doing all the things that the government told me to do, and yet I'm being penalized for it right now."

The 31 year old says that food is dropped off three times per day at the hotel, but she rarely communicates with the staff. She describes the inside of the hotel as being covered in plastic, with security at the doors. Sirois says it is difficult to talk with staff, even after she got a negative test result on Monday morning.

Sirois says that she was hesitant to leave the hotel because it is a little intimidating, and she is worried about possible fines.

"When I walked in, everything was like covered in plastic," she said. "You know it was scary and there's security and like, ya I'm afraid to just leave."

The negative test result came at 11 a.m. Monday morning. Sirois finally got permission to leave the hotel just after 5 p.m.