The federal government is now advising against all non-essential international travel as the COVID-19 Omicron variant continues to spread like wildfire in many communities across the globe — but what does that mean for those who already have trips booked?
While the advisory may be causing some confusion, travel insurance broker Marty Firestone says it's simply a reminder just how risky travelling abroad is and to travel at your own risk if you choose to do so.
The president of Travel Secure says, if you have travel insurance, don't cancel your trip just yet.
"If you have a policy and all them do cover COVID now, for the most part, as long as you're fully vaccinated, not a thing is going to change because of this travel advisory. It didn't change when the advisory got lifted. It's not going to change when the advisory got put back on again."
Firestone says travel advisories were handled very differently before the pandemic hit.
"Prior to March 2020, that was a reason to cancel, but then the world became a travel advisory for the entire world. So any policies purchased after March 13, 2020 will not pay in the event of a claim related to a pandemic such as a border closure, a travel advisory, etc."
He says if the situation worsens and you're outside of Canada, you may get stranded.
"What it does, it sets the table for potentially a whole bunch of other things based on what they see with the variant over the next couple of weeks. It says to you that if you get stranded in another country don't say we didn't tell you so."
The federal government will also be increasing testing capacity at the border while sending additional booster doses and rapid tests to the provinces and territories.
At least two cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in Windsor-Essex while the local health unit continues to investigate several other potential cases.
— with files from AM800's Patty Handysides