Keep on truckin’

A truck driver who crosses the Canada-U.S. border weekly as an essential worker complained to us that a ServiceOntario location would not let him in and demanded he self-isolate for 14 days because he had recently crossed the border.

A truck driver who crosses the Canada-U.S. border weekly as an essential worker complained to us that a ServiceOntario location would not let him in and demanded he self-isolate for 14 days because he had recently crossed the border. Our staff discovered that ServiceOntario had a COVID-19 screening process that required anyone who answered yes to certain questions about travel to be barred from entry. We pointed out that the federal Chief Medical Officer had exempted persons in the trade and transportation sector from the 14-day isolation requirement. As a result of this clarification, ServiceOntario said it would permit the driver to enter the centre, and it committed to revise its screening and to allow essential workers to enter its locations as long as they exhibit no symptoms of the virus.