Over the past week, countries worldwide have started to issue travel restrictions in response to the emerging Omicron variant of COVID-19 — which has impacted some international students’ plans for winter break.
On November 26 the Government of Canada announced a ban on all travellers coming from “the Southern Africa region — including South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia— within the last 14 days before arriving in Canada”until January 21, 2022. On November 30, the government expanded the list to include Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt.
These recent announcements, from the Canadian government and other countries, are mainly directed towards countries in Southern Africa, despite the Omicron variant being present in other European countries and countries such as Australia and the United States.
Sabrina Bearblock, a second-year arts student from England, is not nervous about flying home with the emerging Omicron variant as she is “going to have [her] booster by the time” she departs. However, she is worried about “restrictions changing” and what that means in terms of quarantining in a shared-residence unit.
Bianca Fasciani, a second-year student from Italy, expressed similar concerns.
“I am nervous mainly because ... if I come back and there are [new] restrictions … and I don’t have a place to quarantine, I’m either going to have to find somewhere to stay or pay an insane amount of money,” she said.
Azu Suzuki, a third-year sociology student, said she is now not going home to Japan for winter break. The confirmed Omicron variant case in BC extended her quarantine period in Japan due to the country’s own travel restrictions.
“Everything was fine until the variant,” Suzuki said.
Dr. Katrina Plamondon, an assistant professor with the faculty of health and social development and school of nursing, said “travel restrictions have limited effectiveness at this point.”
“[These] are deeply concerning patterns that ... are quite reactive and discriminatory and have [a] sort of similar reactivity that we saw very early in the pandemic,” she said.
Plamondon said that the country that is first to report a new variant is often targeted as the source “when we don’t ... know that to be true.”
“The geography ... aligns with fairly known systems of racism,” she added.
In a statement sent to The Ubyssey, Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs at UBC Media Relations, said, “UBC is working to ensure students from countries affected by Omicron-related travel restrictions are aware of the resources and supports available to them through UBC.” He recommended students talk to their enrolment services advisor, International Student Advising and Student Housing, among others.
“As always, UBC strongly urges any student who is unvaccinated, or partially vaccinated, to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” he added.
On November 19, Michelle Suderman, director of International Student Advising, echoed the Government of Canada’s statement regarding travel and the Omicron variant in an email sent to international students.
“Make sure you have the right immigration documents and health insurance and be aware that travel restrictions could change at any time. Consider what alternate arrangements you might make should your travel plans be interrupted,” the email read.