Torontonians coming home from Cancun, Mexico, yesterday were greeted by mask-wearing customs officers and warnings to watch out for symptoms of the swine flu.
For many of the travellers arriving at Pearson airport, it was the first real signs of the flu that was raging in Mexico City, far away from their vacation resorts on the country’s coast.
“We heard about it on the news (Tuesday),” Roslyn DeGale told the Sun after arriving on an afternoon Skyservice flight. “We were following the news ... to see what Canada was saying.”
She and her husband used their BlackBerry to read Canadian news on the Internet while watching U.S. cable news at the resort.
“We were worried that there may be a quarantine when we came back,” she said, adding she still had a fabulous vacation.
DeGale said she’s not panicked by the pandemic talk or even the sight of medical masks on airport staff.
“I’ve been here through SARS, I know it does get blown out of proportion,” she said. “We’re all waiting for the next pandemic.”
Drew Knight, another passenger on the plane from Cancun, said not too many people knew about the swine flu at his resort.
“I think it was ambivalence or ignorance,” he told reporters after arriving at Terminal 3. “We were concerned about other people being ill and what the reception would be like coming back.”
Knight said there were customs officers wearing masks at Pearson and the plane’s pilot gave passengers strict instructions that if they felt ill in the next few days to go to a doctor.
That’s in line with advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which is advising travellers back in Canada from Mexico to seek medical attention immediately if flu symptoms surface. The agency is reminding travellers to tell the doctor that they have travelled to Mexico.
For Canadians going to Mexico the agency is warning them to get vaccinated against seasonal influenza, wash their hands and practice proper coughing and sneezing etiquette.
Both Air Canada and Westjet announced yesterday they would waive rescheduling fees for customers wanting to rebook their flights or vacations to Mexico planned between now and May 6. Canadians wishing to change their travel to a later date can call the companies or their travel agent.
don.peat@sunmedia.ca
