It will be weeks before things return to normal, including the border, said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 14 in Washington. The current border closure was scheduled to be reviewed at the beginning of next week. During a press briefing Wednesday, April 15, President Donald Trump suggested the Canada/U.S. border would reopen soon. However, deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland pushed back at that assertion the following day declaring there were no plans to open the border to non-essential traffic. There are unconfirmed reports from members of the Whatcom County Border Task Force that the earliest the border would reopen would be June 30.
In an April 16 article, the Guardian newspaper described Point Roberts as "the safest place" to be during the coronavirus pandemic. See article at bit.ly/2z1WLmN. Also seen in the New York post, see article at bit.ly/3aehxwG.
Water use in Point Roberts since the border closure on March 18 until April 13 dropped from 6,235,000 gallons in 2019 to 2,900,000 in 2020, a 53 percent drop in consumption.
According to Laurie Trautman, director of WWU’s Border Policy Research Institute, traffic into Point Roberts has dwindled from the usual 2,300 crossings per day to a mere 120.
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