Fewer Canadians are crossing the border to visit Point Roberts
Few places in the Pacific Northwest were more disrupted by the pandemic than Point Roberts. The extended closure of the U.S.-Canada border to nonessential crossings cut off peninsular Point Roberts, an exclave, from the U.S. mainland. While life has returned to normal for most of us, the rebound is still tenuous in Washington’s most fascinating border town.
Canada and the U.S. closed their land border to nonessential crossings for 19 months during 2020-2021. COVID-19 contact tracing and proof-of-vaccination requirements were gradually eased both ways thereafter, with the last restrictions lifted as of October 2022.
“When all of that happened my biggest worry was, will these restrictions be in place long enough that people will change their consumer habits? And I think they have,” said Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University.
Trautman said the number of people counted coming into the U.S. in personal vehicles at Whatcom County’s five land border crossings was down about 25% in 2023 compared to the pre-pandemic baseline of 2019. Crossings from Canada into Point Roberts lagged even more, down 32%.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/05/20/fewer-canadians-are-crossing-the-border-to-visit-point-roberts/