B.C. mom warns parents about international travel rules for kids

A B.C. mom is warning other parents about rules around keeping children home after international travel — rules she wasn't aware of until she recently returned to Canada after a trip to California. 

Stephanie Meyer and her family went to Palm Springs for a week in mid-November for a short getaway after nearly two years of pandemic life. 

Meyer, her husband and their 13-year-old were all fully vaccinated. As vaccines weren't yet available for her younger children, ages two, five, seven and 11, they were not. 

She did as much research as she could; she checked the airline's website, the federal government website, watched the news, and said it all suggested no one in her family would have to quarantine upon returning to Canada.

Before heading home the whole family took PCR tests, all of which came back negative. 

As she arrived at YVR, she was handed an information package about their return home and what was required. That's when she learned she'd have to keep her young children home from school and daycare for two weeks. 

"We were caught off guard," Meyer said. 

"My husband and I had to scramble and try and figure out what we were going to do for the children that weren't vaccinated because all of a sudden they had to stay home from school for the next two weeks. So therefore, we have to co-ordinate with the principal and the teachers, some of whom were also caught off guard."

With the holidays approaching and families planning to leave the country to see friends and relatives they haven't been able to see in many months, Meyer worries other parents will run into this situation, and that many won't have the option to stay home with their children due to work and other commitments. 

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says that any unvaccinated children under 12 are exempt from quarantine, which specifically includes staying inside your home, monitoring for symptoms and recording your temperature daily. 

From what Meyer understood before leaving, the kids could travel and would not have to quarantine when they got home as long as their parents were vaccinated. Which, technically, is true — kids don't have to quarantine. However they do have to stay home from school and daycare for 14 days, regardless of their test results. 

They also can't take crowded transportation, visit a place where vulnerable people are and must limit contact with others. The difference, it seems, is they can still, for example, visit a grocery store with a parent as long as they are wearing a mask. 

Public health says all unvaccinated children, except those under five years of age, are subject to these requirements. 

But Meyer said it doesn't make sense that kids would have to stay home after taking three tests: one before leaving the U.S., another upon arrival at YVR and a third eight days after returning home.