No need to restrict travel to places other than Mexico: health official

There is no need to restrict travel within Canada or to countries other than Mexico, Alberta's chief medical officer of health said Wednesday.

A number of Alberta school boards are cancelling school field trips and business travel due to worries over swine flu.

But Dr. André Corriveau said they made those decisions without input from him.

"At this point, it's not something I feel that is necessary … for travel around Canada or even in the United States or Europe. I feel that if people who travel, in any case, should take precautions against getting the flu or flu-like illnesses."

Corriveau announced Wednesday that there were no new confirmed cases in Alberta. He also clarified that the two Alberta cases announced Tuesday involved an infant and a young person, not two men.

Different policies on trip reimbursement

In Edmonton, both the public and Catholic school boards announced yesterday they were cancelling school field trips over swine flu fears.

Edmonton Public Schools have cancelled all trips involving air travel, but a district spokesperson said parents will not be reimbursed for trips because the waiver they sign gives the superintendent the right to cancel trips for any reason.

"Under the waiver form that the parents sign, they know that as a result of any cancellation there would not be any reimbursement from the school district,"  Farrell said Wednesday.

"But we're hopeful because of the unique circumstances of this that the airlines and perhaps the travel companies that the trips have been arranged through that there'll be some cancellation insurance reimbursement … through them"

Four public schools in Edmonton are affected by the ban, meaning their trips to Costa Rica, Spokane, Wash., and Quebec have been cancelled. In some cases, parents have paid thousands of dollars for the trips.

Any reimbursements from airlines or travel companies will likely be passed onto the parents, Farrell said.

The Edmonton Catholic School board's policy is different for cancelled trips.  Parents are reimbursed for the costs of international trips, spokesperson Lori Nagy said.

"Any costs incurred for the hotel, for the field trip itself, for the plane, we would always reimburse that, and that of course is in our policy for international field trips," she said. 

"For national field trips, we are getting those costs and will make a decision on that in the next couple days."

The Edmonton Catholic Schools have cancelled all field trips outside Alberta and all air and ground travel and business trips for staff until further notice.