MIAMI, United States. – A Canadian couple from Quebec, vacationing in Cuba, revealed on Canadian television the nightmare of traveling to Cuba in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s the story of Claudia Gagné and her husband, who, in spite of being fully vaccinated with the required dosages, had to submit to being tested for coronavirus at the airport in Havana, as required by health protocols in the island.
It all seemed normal until they received a visit from three men, 24 hours after their arrival, who informed Gagne2 and her husband that one of them had tested positive, although none showed symptoms of the disease.
“One of the Cuban men said: ‘you’ve tested positive’. I asked which one of us, because there were two of us in the room. He didn’t know. One of them made a call on his walkie-talkie, and finally said that it was I,” told the sixty-year-old woman to TVA Nouvelles.
After informing her about the positive COVID-19 test results, the three Cubans asked Claudia Gagné to go to the hospital to get medical attention. Gagné refused on grounds that her husband could not accompany her. As a result, the couple was kept in forced confinement in their hotel room with someone standing guard at the door.
Later one, Claudia Gagné was forced to leave her room and go to the hospital. There, she was given an X-ray and another COVID-19 test, all of which cost her $90.
Cagné assured TVA Nouvelles that neither the health workers who called on her at the hotel, nor the medical personnel at the hospital, provided proof of her alleged positive COVID-19 test results, which is why she is. Convinced that she was the victim of a swindle.
Her doubts about the alleged positive results were reinforced when she decided to speak to other French-speaking women, and learnt that they did not pay the same amount of money for tests they were administered.
Air Canada Vacations, the agency through which the couple made reservations to travel to Cuba, offered them no explanation about their predicament.
“I wrote to them, and they simply said they were very sorry for what had happened, and hoped that I would get over it,” says Cagné. Her advice to individuals who wish to travel is that they wait until no COVID-19 tests are required at the destination point, before going on vacation.
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