Carpooling and Essential Transport Guidance

To help break the chain of COVID-19 transmission in PEI, Updated COVID-19 Post Circuit Breaker Holiday Measures are in effect from January 6 to January 25th, 2021.

These CIRCUIT BREAKER measures impact businesses and gatherings and are different from the restrictions PEI residents were asked to observe during the New Normal phase.

The circuit breaker phase restrictions override all other existing sector specific public health guidance. Government of Prince Edward Island COVID-19 recommendations and guidances may be impacted by the CIRCUIT BREAKER measures.

This guideline applies to any scenario in which two or more persons who do not live in the same household travel together in the same vehicle for work and/or essential transport purposes, including personal vehicles, taxis and ride shares, and fleet vehicles.

Essential transport includes carpooling for work, co-workers in fleet vehicles, and transport for medical appointments and other essential needs.

If you are transporting a person who is required to self-isolate, follow Transporting Travellers to Self-Isolation Location Guidance.

Guidance on public health measures

Measures required by all businesses, services, and organizations:

• Develop and follow an operational plan detailing how risk of transmission of disease will be mitigated.
• Take every reasonable step to ensure minimal interaction of people (including employees and/or clients) within two metres of each other.
• Take every reasonable step required to prevent employees who are required to self-isolate from entering workplaces.
• Develop and follow an exclusion policy that ensures symptomatic employees are immediately excluded from work activities.
• Ensure enhanced cleaning and disinfection of shared areas and surfaces.
• Ensure hand washing stations or hand sanitizing products are available and accessible to all employees.

Additional measures specific to travelling in vehicles may include:

• If physical distancing cannot be maintained, every effort should be made to ensure some distance between passengers, including limiting the number of persons in a vehicle.
• Clean, when visibly dirty, and then sanitize frequently touched surfaces at least twice a day, and/or after transporting medical patients or passengers with respiratory symptoms. This includes door handles, arm rests, buttons for windows and locks, seatbelts and seatbelt buttons, steering wheel, touch screens, and controls for radios and air conditioning/heating.
• Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or use hand sanitizer with at least 60% to 80% alcohol if soap and water are not available.
• Have tissues, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and no-touch disposal receptacles available for persons in the vehicle.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Cough and sneeze into a tissue or sleeve, then throw the tissue in the trash and use hand sanitizer.
• If a person is being transported to or from a hospital or other health care setting and/or is displaying respiratory symptoms, make sure the windows of the vehicle are open and set the air conditioning/heating setting to external airflow.
• Customers should be encouraged to use credit or debit cards if payment is required. Limit contact by allowing customers to scan/tap/swipe their own cards.  If cash must be handled, use hand sanitizer after handling.
• Non-medical masks may be used when physical distancing cannot be maintained.  Non-medical masks are not a replacement for any of the above measures.

Print and post safety information related to the above in your vehicle where it can be seen by passengers (i.e. in a clear plastic sleeve).