Point Roberts Attempts To Help Canadians Return With Measures To Cover COVID Testing Costs

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Point Roberts expects an influx of Canadians who own property in the US enclave and is taking steps to help them meet the requirement for a COVID-19 test before returning to Canada.

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To do that, Point Roberts has arranged for the state of Washington to pay for testing for Canadians who own property there but cannot afford the test or do not have private health insurance in the US to cover the cost. .

The United States will open its land border with Canada and Mexico on November 8, provided travelers are fully vaccinated and have proof that they do not have COVID-19. But to return to Canada, they will have to re-prove they have negative COVID-19 with a test conducted in the US within three days of the crossing.

Point Roberts Fire Chief Christopher Carlton said the reopening would result in a large percentage of Point Roberts’ 1,800 Canadian homeowners returning to control their properties for the first time in 18 months.

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Carlton said Canada’s insistence that the COVID-19 test return will continue to make it impossible for hikers to come to Point Roberts because Canada does not accept rapid tests, and the standard PCR test is only available at Point Roberts on Sundays and Wednesdays and takes a day for the result to return from a Bellingham laboratory.

“Due to the testing requirement that Canada still has, the return to the daily influx from which our economy survives will not be affected at this time,” said Carlton.

But Carlton said the community wanted to support Canadians who own property in Point Roberts.

“Most of the people who will come in will be homeowners and already pay property taxes to the state of Washington,” he said. “So providing an international traveler who owns a Point Roberts property with proof to come home after coming into the community and seeing their home for the first time in 18 months, I think is the right thing to do.”

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Carlton has reached an agreement with the Northwest Laboratory in Bellingham, which conducts COVID-19 testing at Point Roberts, in which the laboratory will bill the state of Washington for tests performed on those owners if necessary.

The tests typically cost $ 180, and Carlton estimated that 70 percent of Canadian homeowners are uninsured in the United States.

“I’m not using the word free,” Carlton said. “The plan is if you get a bill after testing here at Point Roberts, you call the biller (Northwest Labs) and tell them it’s someone who doesn’t have insurance in the US. And ask them to send it in. to the state for payment. “

He said this arrangement only applies to Point Roberts because the enclave was “geographically isolated and disproportionately affected by the pandemic.”

Brian Calder, president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce, said the community had been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with most businesses closed after a collapse in Canadian visits.

He said statistics showed that 90 percent of border crossings before the pandemic were Canadian and just over half of them stayed for less than an hour, usually to buy cheaper goods or pick up U.S. mail. He is calling for the requirement of a negative test to be lifted to return to Canada and allow day trips again.

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