This remote Whatcom community’s fire chief has been pushing for COVID vaccine access
A medical clinic serving the small, secluded community of Point Roberts has received state authorization to give the COVID-19 vaccine.
Now, the Point Roberts Clinic is waiting to get doses after placing its first order on Friday, Feb. 12, with the Washington State Department of Health.
“We will announce our first vaccination date when we know what date the vaccine will arrive,” said Barbara Wayland, superintendent of the Point Roberts Public Hospital District, in an email to The Bellingham Herald, on Wednesday, Feb. 10.
The hospital district partners with SuperTrack Urgent Care out of Bellingham to operate the only clinic, which is attached to the fire hall, to serve the remote community. SuperTrack and the fire department are working together to ready for Point Roberts’ first vaccine clinic.
Officials said they will reach out directly to residents who are eligible for the vaccine under the state’s current phased rollout.
“The (Department of Health) has indicated that the vaccine will arrive about 10 days after it is ordered, but this is an estimate. SuperTrack will be notified when the shipment is actually on its way and the date it will be delivered. At that point we will contact everyone in the current open phase — those 65 years of age and older — who has provided contact information,” Wayland said in an update on Friday, Feb. 12.
Getting the COVID-19 vaccine to Point Roberts has been a concern for its fire chief, who earlier emailed public health officials and elected representatives asking for help — fearing that the community’s geographical uniqueness could lead to it being overlooked in a vaccine rollout that has so far been marked by short supplies nationally and in Washington state.
“You are all by now well aware of the difficulties we have endured as an exclave during this pandemic. You are also, I suspect, cognizant of just how important expedited vaccination is in helping bring some hope for respite from the isolation, inconvenience, and despair that have characterized our plight for the majority of the year,” Chief Christopher Carleton wrote on Dec. 28.
Home to Canadians and Americans
Point Roberts is home to Canadians and Americans and those with citizenship in both countries.
Just 1,300 to 1,400 people live there year-round, though its population swells with an influx of Canadians in summer.
Point Roberts is 55 miles north of Bellingham, 23 of them through British Columbia. When allowed, a round trip by land requires four border crossings, as the lobe of land dangling from Canada south into the U.S. was separated from the mainland by the 1846 Treaty of Washington.
However, the border between the two countries has been closed to non-essential travel since March 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The closure is expected to continue until Feb. 21 at least, and residents have basically been cut off from the rest of Whatcom County as a result.
To help, the Port of Bellingham launched a foot-passenger ferry in August so Point Roberts residents could visit the rest of Whatcom County during the pandemic. Twice a week, the ferry takes residents to Bellingham, a trip that takes about two hours each way.
“Many here lack means to travel effectively to the mainland even for something as critical as this, regardless that a ferry exists,” Carleton wrote on Dec. 28. “Among those who have transportation, issues ranging from health complications to legal impediments often hamper transit, even when allowed for medical necessity.”
Point Roberts residents can cross the land border for medical reasons, and some have in order to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but the logistics could be a deterrence, according to Carleton.
“A lot of people are going to choose not to travel to get a vaccine,” he said to The Herald. “When borders do open up that puts them in further danger of contracting the virus.”
First COVID-19 case this month
Up until recently, no one in Point Roberts has tested positive for COVID-19. That changed on Wednesday, Feb. 10, when the first person did, according to a CTV News story on Thursday, Feb. 11.
Beyond the health of its residents, Carleton hopes getting vaccines to Point Roberts faster could help with border reopening and ease the disproportionate impact that the pandemic has had on Point Roberts — due to its small size and its reliance on Canadians.
About 75% of its real property is owned by Canadians, who supply 90% of its economic activity, according to a letter written Jan. 22 by Brian Calder, president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce.
Most businesses rely on Canadian visitors and Canadians who own property there, Calder stated in the letter to federal officials asking for flexibility in public health measures at the border and help with what he called an “economic freefall” because of the closure.
Carleton echoed those concerns.
Economic survival tough without Canadians
“Obviously the health of my community and the economic survival of my community go hand in hand,” he said. “I would hope that the United States side of the border, as people become vaccinated in Canada, would consider allowing those individuals into our community as well to take care of (their) property and to help start rebuilding our economy.”
Carleton said it will be “incredibly hard” for businesses to continue “if we have another summer without any influx into our community.”
He praised the resilience of the residents and the businesses.
“With that said, we’re a community that is strongly tied to the lower mainland of British Columbia and in a large part dependent upon our friends, extended families and neighbors to the north for our community’s prosperity,” Carleton said.
