TORONTO – Landing in Canada in times of Covid-19 is a kind of modern “Odyssey”. Overcoming it is a challenge and to do so it is necessary to follow all the requirements to the letter, paying attention to the smallest details. Otherwise you cannot enter.

The organization of the start, in particular, is essential because everything is played in a matter of days. In fact, it is no longer enough to have all the documents in order (passport for Canadian citizens, “pr card” for permanent residents or work / study permit for all others: tourists are not admitted under any circumstances), it is necessary to prove in advance of also being able to comply with all anti-Covid prescriptions, namely: not being positive for the virus, having a reservation for the first three days (at your own expense) in one of the “mandatory hotels” included in the government’s list (here: COVID-19 mandatory hotel stopover: Plan and book), have an address where the rest of the quarantine will be carried out (which lasts a total of fourteen days from the day of arrival in Canada) in total isolation, which also means having someone to bring  supplies keeping them strictly outside the door of the house.

First obstacle: the swab (only the molecular one, PCR, is accepted) which must be carried out no earlier than 72 hours after arrival in Canada. Since the result of any test arrives, generally, in 24 hours, there are only two useful days left: you must therefore be ready to book, in a very short time, the flight and the hotel (to which the apartment is added, for those who does not live permanently in Canada). It is in fact useless to book before knowing the result of the swab because if the test is positive … you won’t leave. Basically, everything is played really within a few hours. Especially if the flight is long, like for those departing from Italy to reach Toronto.

Once this first undertaking (swab-flight-reservations) has been completed, before boarding the plane for Toronto, it is necessary to download the ArriveCAN application on your mobile phone in which all your data must be entered (including an e-mail address and a number phone), the reasons for the trip and the exact address of the house where the quarantine will be carried out. After that, you can fly. But the “Odyssey” has just begun.

Day 1: arrival

Disembark in Toronto around noon after a journey of over twelve hours (stopover included: there are no direct flights from Italy to Canada). Once the paperwork for entry into the country has been completed, I am directed to the internal laboratory at Pearson International Airport to do the second (mandatory) swab of my trip. To do this, I have to sign up to the Switchhealt.ca portal (https://www.switchhealth.ca/en/) through which I will know the test result. Once registered, the laboratory staff (very kind) subjected me to the swab and gave me a kit for another swab, do-it-yourself, which I will have to do seven days later, that is, on the eighth day after arriving in Toronto.

I reach the exit, following a predetermined route, and find some hostesses waiting for me who invite to wait for the shuttle that will take me to the “mandatory hotel” I booked before leaving. The shuttle arrives within a few minutes and takes me to the hotel where I check in and I am invited to go up to my room where I will have to stay until the result of the swab done at the airport and from which I can only exit twice at day, for fifteen minutes, accompanied by the hostesses: I can only decide at what time (obviously of the day) to use the “quarter of an hour of air”, communicating it in advance to the reception.

The room is nice and comfortable, nothing is missing and even the food is excellent and plentiful (it is left outside the door at set times, to avoid any kind of contact as much as possible): in short, it is a golden prison.

Upon arrival of the (negative) test result – after a day and a half – in theory I could leave the hotel (even if the amount paid in advance for the remaining time is not refunded) but I decide not to do so also because in the apartment are waiting for me, now, on the fourth day of my arrival in Canada. After all, at the time of booking, I did not have much choice: the “mandatory hotel” must be fixed for three days (and it is a financial drain).

Day 4: the quarantine

After the three days in the hotel, check out and go out: I will have to take a taxi to get to the apartment where the mandatory quarantine will continue. The isolation must continue.

In the following days, the ArriveCAN application comes into play: every day a message arrives (also by e-mail, as a reminder) to which I have to respond to ensure that I am fine and that I have no symptoms. Probably, if I didn’t answer they would call me (they have my number) or they would come knocking on the door (they have my address) to verify that I am actually quarantining. But I prefer… not to test them! I always answer and remain closed at home, isolated from the rest of the world.

Day 8: the do-it-yourself swab

The eighth day of my arrival comes and, therefore, also the moment of the do-it-yourself swab. As I open the package (in the pic below), I wonder: how will they know I’m doing it right? The answer comes by reading the “instructions for use”: I will have to connect via video-call with the Switchhealth.ca portal and I will find a nurse waiting for me who will guide me, assisting my swab online. I get ready (I was in my pajamas for days, at that point I get dressed!) and I connect: the nurse guides me step by step, to the packaging of the box containing the test tube that I will have to leave in front of the entrance door where a courier will come to collect it within a day.

Another two days pass and here is the test result, directly in my e-mail and in the Switchhealt.ca portal: negative! I can go out? No. I still have to complete the quarantine and in the following days the “verification” messages continue to arrive on time by e-mail and in the ArriveCAN application. “Do you have a cough? Cold? Symptoms? “.

Day 15: freedom

The fifteenth day arrives. I open the application, to understand what I have to do. Nothing. It started from the beginning, with the fateful question I found when I downloaded it, before flying: “How are you entering Canada?”. Thanks… done!

The “guide” to get to Canada by plane is here: Flying to Canada