The recent emergence internationally of several Variants of Concern has made reinforcing border controls to prevent COVID importation even more urgent. The #CanadianShield report recommends to: “Significantly strengthen internal and, especially, international borders to prevent COVID transmission while maintaining trade and service flows.”
Sign the Variants of Concern (VOC) petition by virologists, epidemiologists, doctors and public health officials
Petition en français
See some of who have already signedHighly infectious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19 (known as Variants of Concern, or VOCs) are circulating internationally. Several have been identified, with a naming strategy still being decided, including B.1.1.7 (identified in the UK) as well as variants identified in South Africa (501Y.V2) and Brazil (P.1). Others may exist and more could emerge.
Variants of Concern represent a clear and present danger to Canada’s health security and economic well-being. For example, the B.1.1.7 variant is estimated to be 30-60% more transmissible than current circulating strains based on current epidemiology data. It quickly became the dominant strain across the UK and Ireland, causing massive increases in COVID-19 cases, overwhelming hospitals and forcing both countries into difficult new lockdowns. Modelling for the U.S. Center for Disease Control suggests that B.1.1.7 could become the dominant variant in the U.S. in March.
The Ontario Science Table advises that B.1.1.7 “could drive much higher case counts, ICU occupancy and mortality if community transmission occurs.” If B.1.1.7 or another highly transmissible VOC becomes dominant in Canada, it could cause hundreds of thousands of additional COVID cases and thousands of additional deaths. Very stringent, long lockdowns (beyond what Canadians are already experiencing) could be required to control it, causing tens of billions of dollars in additional economic damage.
While vaccine deployment will eventually add to our defenses against current circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains, and presumably VOCs, the accelerated transmission rate associated with B.1.1.7 coupled with delays in vaccine acquisition and distribution raise significant concerns for the viability of current, overstretched pandemic controls in Canada.
Existing travel and border protocols have not prevented the importation of these new variants into Canada. Cases of variants B.1.1.7 and 501Y.V1 have now been confirmed in several provinces. It is highly concerning that, in a number of cases, their path into Canada remains unknown.
There is a brief window to prevent the scenario that is unfolding in the UK. Without immediate additional action by the Federal government, Canada faces a very significant risk of an escalated new, variant driven COVID wave. Delays in significantly reducing the risk of importation could be ruinous.
Several other jurisdictions, with more rigorous approaches to border control than Canada, have successfully limited the importation of VOCs. These include Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. They are succeeding due to tight travel restrictions alongside domestic measures (notably strict quarantine requirements) adopted earlier and applied more strongly than current Canadian policy.
Drawing upon these demonstrable successes and adjusting for Canadian realities (e.g. our land-border with the U.S.), we recommend the following 9 immediate actions by the Federal government:
Given the very high stakes involved, it is better to act very strongly now and have the ability to relax constraints in the future versus not to be tough enough and lose forever the chance of shielding Canadians from the onslaught of new higher-transmission variants.
If the Federal government is not able to enact protective measures immediately, provincial governments should implement them without delay. A prudent response would be to enact protections against entry of VOCs into Canada by this week’s end.
In addition, provincial and federal governments should continue to coordinate on critical domestic actions to identify and eliminate VOCs already in Canada. Genomic sequencing of non-travel COVID cases should be expanded, and appropriate screening surveillance protocols developed, to identify VOCs already in the community. Inter-provincial travel should be restricted to essential activities in order to limit the geographic spread of VOCs until baseline surveillance is established and current data reviewed.
Canadians will support decisive action. In a recent poll, 87% of Canadians supported banning international travel until there were reduced numbers of COVID cases, with strong majorities across all regions, age groups, and party affiliations. In another poll, 65% of Canadians said they would ban international travel altogether.
These actions are not easy. However, they are not nearly as difficult as the restrictions already in place in many provinces. Compared to stay-at-home orders for 15 million Canadians plus nightly curfews for 8 million more, addressing deadly COVID outbreaks in hundreds of long-term care homes, or curtailing entire business sectors, stopping flights to holiday destinations and requiring all arriving passengers to have additional COVID tests is not unreasonable. Certainly, these restrictions are not as severe as the implications of not implementing them, if Canada then experienced a severe VOC COVID surge.
These actions will be difficult for our hard-hit airlines who have just announced a new round of cuts and are struggling to ensure pre-boarding testing of passengers. There is a strong case for sectoral support, as has been provided in other countries. However, these considerations should not block or delay painful but necessary actions to protect the health of Canadians and the viability of our fragile health systems.
These recommendations will protect Canadians from further importations of VOCs that have already been identified. They will also protect Canadians from the importation of future VOCs that have yet to be detected.
Time is of the essence. Every day increases the risk of further importation of the new variants, and their establishing a widespread presence in Canada. Hesitation could be fatal to thousands of Canadians, to our economic recovery, and to Canada’s overall fight against COVID.
We call on the Federal government, and in particular:
to act decisively and immediately in implementing these urgent recommendations.
Respectfully,
Your name will go here
Sign the petition
I support this petition in my personal capacity, not as a representative of my organization.
I would like to receive updates on this petition and related initiatives
Some of those who have already signed
Dr. Jeff Kwong
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoProfessor Caroline Colijn
Canada 150 Research Chair in Mathematics for Infection, Evolution and Public Health, Simon Fraser UniversityProfessor Christopher Cotton
Professor of Economics Jarislowsky-Deutsch Chair in Economic & Financial PolicyMs Marion Crowe
First Nations Health Administrator CEODr. Christopher McCabe
Executive Director and CEO, Institute of Health EconomicsProfessor Ashleigh Tuite
Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoMs. Tasha Ayinde
Associate Director, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill UniversityDr. Andrew Morris
Infectious Diseases Specialist, Sinai Health and University Health Network, and Professor, Department of Medicine, University of TorontoJean-Paul Soucy
Studying for a Doctoral degree in infectious disease epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoMr. Brett House
Deputy Chief Economist, ScotiabankDr. Jaspreet Khangura
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alberta Emergency Physician & Clinical InstructorDr. David Fisman
Physician, Epidemiologist (and Lead of the Institute for Pandemic's Centre for Pandemic Readiness at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health)Professor Kelley Lee
Professor, Health Sciences, Canada Research Chair Tier I, Simon Fraser UniversityDr. Jason Kindrachuk
Virologist, Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair – University of ManitobaDr. Lynora M Saxinger
Infectious DIseases, University of Alberta co-Chair COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group, Alberta Health ServicesDr. Amy L. Greer, MSc, PhD
Canada Research Chair in Population Disease Modelling and Associate Professor, University of GuelphDr. Robyn Lee
Infectious disease and genomic epidemiologist Adjunct Professor, Infectious Disease and Genomic Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoDr. Karen Grépin
University of Hong Kong Associate ProfessorMiss Lyana Patrick
Assistant Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityMrs Lucy Henry
International Health Research Manager Director, Research in HealthDr. Rupert Kaul
Infectious Disease Physician Division Director of Infectious Diseases, University of TorontoDr. Kamyab Ghatan
Infection Prevention and Control IPAC OfficerDr Selina Liu
Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Western University Assistant ProfessorMs Wendy Somerville
Infection Control Practitioner Coordinator, IPAC program McGill Faculty of DentistryDr. Mona Loutfy
Infectious Diseases Specialist, Women's College Hospital Professor, University of TorontoDr Yvonne Yau
Medical Microbiologist Assistant Professor, University of TorontoDr Lindsay Cohen
Physician Emergency Medicine PhysicianDr. Gerald A. Evans
Infectious Disease Specialist, Kingston Health Sciences Centre Professor & Chair, Division of Infectious Disease, Dept. of Medicine, Queen's UniversityDr. Benoît Duguay
Full Professor PhD, MBAMme Gabrielle Viens
Propriétaire entreprise Directrice des affairesDr. Vivian Welch
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa AssociateTania St-Amour
Agente adminstrative Réseau de la santéDr Leyla Asadi
Infectious Diseases Physician PhD student, University of AlbertaM. Doucet Normand
Préposé aux bénéficiaires PAB Unité Covid en CHSLDDr Marzieh Abedpour
Dardashti Family Doctor MD FCFPDr Catherine Pound
Physician MD, MScDr Tina Whitty
Anesthesiology DoctorM. Sébastien Gagné
Infirmier clinicien MDr Anne-Marie Nicol
Academic Researcher Associate ProfessorDr. Malgorzata Gasperowicz
Developmental Biologist, General Associate, University of Calgary PhDDr. Diego G. Bassani
Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics & Dalla Lana School of Public Health PhDProfessor William Hsiao
University Professor Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Science, Simon Fraser UniversityProfessor Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon
Bioethicist Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityDr. Cindy Holmes
Social Work Assistant Professor, University of VictoriaDr. Susan Erikson
Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University ProfessorDr. Farha Hussain
Family physician MD CCFPDr. Christine Froelich
MD, FRCPC Associate Clinical Professor, University of AlbertaDr. Nicole Bechard
Pediatric Resident DrDr. Jill Alston
Physician GeriatricianDr. Rajinder Cheema
Family Physician MDDr. Joanne Vaughan
MD DoctorDr. Jan McPhee
Family medicine PhysicianDr. Lillian Bartha
MD DoctorDr. Giorgia Tropini
Resident physician MSc MDDr. Jo Ling Foo
Medicine Family physicianDr. Richard Ingram
Physician, University of Calgary, AlbertaDr. Zainab Abbas
Family physician DrDr. Ian Sempowski
Physician , Associate Professor MD CCFP (EM)Dr. Emily Ching
Medical physician DrMs. Antonia Benton
Nurse practitionerDr. Jesse Shapiro
Evolutionary microbiologist Associate professor, McGill UniversityProfessor Ronald Labonte
Professor and Distinguished Research Chair, Globalization and Health School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of OttawaDr. Shraddha Pai
Ph.D. Research Scientist, Genomics and Bioinformatics Independent Investigator, Ontario Institute for Cancer ResearchDr. Kashif Pirzada
Emergency Physician and Co-chair of Masks4Canada Assistant Clinical Professor, McMaster UniversityDr John Challis
OC University Professor University Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto: Adjunct Professor Simon Fraser UniversityDr. Joe Vipond
Emergency Physician MD CCFP(EM)Dr. Amy Tan
Physician, Adj Associate ProfessorDr. Tehseen Ladha
Pediatrician Assistant professorDr Srinivas Murthy
Physician Health Research Foundation and Innovative Medicines Canada Chair in Pandemic Preparedness ResearchDr. Kate Trebuss
Physician Resident, Care of the ElderlyDr. Cherelyn Lakusta
MD, FRCPC Clinical Assistant Professor, University of CalgaryDr. Noah Ivers
Clinician Scientist Canada Research Chair, Implementation of Evidence-based PracticeDr. Larissa Matukas
Medical Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases Specialist Head, Division of Microbiology, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of TorontoDr. Dick Zoutman
Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology Specialist Professor, Queen's University and University of TorontoMs. Isha Berry
Epidemiologist PhD CandidateDr. Stirling Bryan
Academic Professor of Health Economics, UBC Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University ProfessorDr. Linda L. Smith
MD CCFP FCFP Physician Assistant Clinical ProfessorDr. Howard Ovens
Emergency Physician Professor, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, University of TorontoProfessor Olena Hankivsky
Professor School of Public Policy Simon Fraser UniversityDr. Jeff Round
Health Economist Director of Economics, Institute of Health EconomicsDr. Maya Gislason
Assistant Professor Simon Fraser UniversityDr. Malcolm Steinberg
University Instructor Director Public Health PracticeDr. Rachel McGovern
Lecturer, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University; Medical Writer Limited Term LecturerDr. Diego Silva
Bioethics LecturerDr. Leonie Beauchamp
PathologisteDr. Rina Lee
MD CardiologistDr. Mandy Schwartz
Family physician CCFPDre. Pascale Lafortune
Medecin MadameDr. Claudine Storness-Bliss
Obstetrics and Gynecology PhysicianMr. Kevin Reinhardt
Psychologist Director of Clinical ServicesDre. Annie Gagnon
Family physicianMiss Nancy Saulnier
Hospitalist DreDr. Edith Hui
Family Physician MDMrs. Bernadette Couture
Primary Care Nurse Practitioner RN, MScNMs. Roojin Habibi
Researcher Doctoral Candidate, Osgoode Hall Law SchoolDr. Sonja Hansen
Physician Family MedicineDr. Christine Gibson
Medical DoctorMr. Geoff Boyd
Retired Researcher Peer SpecialistDr Jeremy Grimshaw
Physician scientist Professor and Senior ScientistDr Tim Hillson
Eye Physician and Surgeon Assistant Clinical Professor, McMaster UniversityDr. Mark Lechner
Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU University LecturerDre. Cloe Trottier
MD DoctorDr Richa Agnihotri
Physician PaediatricianDr Nitin Wadhawan
Physician MD CCFPDr Jennifer Lush
Family physician University Plaza Family PracticeMs. Daphne Broadhurst
Registered Nurse Clinical Nurse Specialist