Contemporary disease dilemmas

Changing places and Covid 19 – Point Roberts, USA

The Covid-19 pandemic had a wide range of impacts at a variety of scales around the world. This piece examines one relatively small-scale place where the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact: the exclave of Point Roberts, USA.

An exclave: part of one territory that is geographically separated from its main part by another territory.

Location

Point Roberts is an exclave of the United States situated in Washington State on the southernmost tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula [Figure 1]. Located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, it is a 13km² outpost separated from the rest of Whatcom County (Washington State) and the rest of the U.S. by sea or a road journey of twenty-five miles and two border crossings. The U.S.A./Canada border was set at the 49th parallel in 1846. It cuts across the peninsula, leaving a small area of the U.S. dangling at its base. Point Roberts is similar in area to many small coastal towns in the Pacific Northwest, with access to good places to fish, hike on the coastline, and watch whales.

Some natural features are unaffected by political borders. The sediment plume streaming from the mouth of the Fraser River, the longest river in British Columbia carries about 20 million tonnes of silt each year into the sea. Moved around by winds, currents, and tides, this silt provides nutrients that fertilize the region’s waters and support its salmon populations, which in turn make Point Roberts a great place to view pods of orca whales.

But unlike other coastal towns, due to its location, life in Point Roberts is more complicated. Point Roberts is a popular vacation spot for Canadians, which helps drive the area’s economy. Some have called the area ‘Pretend America’. Others have joked that it is the world's largest gated community.

Figure 1. Location of Point Roberts

[You can download a high resolution image of the area at: Point Roberts (nasa.gov) ]

The impact of Covid-19

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, movement between Point Roberts and the Canadian town of Tsawwassen was unregulated due to an agreement between both countries. However, the pandemic led to cross-border movement being stopped. Many of Point Roberts' houses still remain empty as years of Covid-related travel restrictions made it impossible to live there, as residents often worked, shopped, went to school, and obtained health care on the Canadian side. During the pandemic, in keeping within U.S. and Canadian Covid travel restrictions, no one – vaccinated or not – could drive in or out of Point Roberts without an essential reason. It was hoped that both governments would allow the two communities to create an interdependent bubble to allow residents to move back to their homes and continue with their daily life. However, this did not happen until the formal re-opening up of movement between the two countries took place in 2022.

Photo from Geography Review.

The widespread disruption to the movement of truckers between the US and Canada in 2022, caused by their unhappiness with Canada’s requirement that US truckers must be fully vaccinated to cross into Canada (or face 14 days quarantine), exacerbated the problems. Protests by Canadian truckers took place across the country in February 2022, in cities including Vancouver, Winnipeg and the capital Ottawa where a state of emergency was declared. Cross-border traffic came to a standstill in several places. However, in Point Roberts, an emergency ferry service, for health reasons only, was available from the marina (shown at the base of the satellite image) to Bellingham, Washington (USA).

Canadians were used to crossing the Tsawwassen/Point Roberts border for cheaper prices of basics such as eggs and milk, resulting in the only grocery store in Point Roberts being unusually large. This trade suffered markedly. Another impact was on online purchases. Canadians in places such as Tsawwassen avoided expensive international shipping fees on their Amazon and eBay purchases by picking them up across the border in Point Roberts. But, during the pandemic, those packages remained uncollected for months.

Conclusion

The role of political decision-making regarding the Covid-19 pandemic was significant in several locations where cross-border movement had been widespread previously. Issues arose within the UK where the devolved governments (Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) had different rules from England. Around the world commuting, health care and even shopping practices were curtailed in ways that had not occurred before.

[Coming soon - an essay/answer on the usefulness of Plate Tectonic theory]