July 2020
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4th of July fireworks happening, page 7
Congratulations, 2020 graduates, page 9
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And the boats head north to B.C., page 10
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Border closure A border runs through it ... looks certain to extend past July By Pat
g r u bb
The Canadian government continues to dash hopes that the U.S./Canada border will open any time in the foreseeable future. During a media briefing June 22, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that people shouldn’t expect the borders to open quickly. “I understand there are a lot of tourism firms and airlines who would like us to be able to once again welcome tourists,” he said. The U.S. and Canada had previously announced that the U.S./Canada border closure would be extended another 30 days until July 21. The previous closure agreement was set to expire on June 21. The two countries initially agreed to a temporary border closure on March 21, barring non-essential travel between the two countries to slow the spread of Covid-19. This is the third month-long extension to the initial closure. The federal government has faced unrelenting pressure from provincial premiers arguing against re-opening the border. The U.S. has had more than 2.4 million cases of Covid-19 to date with 123,464 deaths, according to the CDC. Canada has had about 101,000 cases with 8,453 deaths, according to Statistics Canada. B.C. has had 2,822 cases with 169 deaths compared Washington state’s 28,870 cases and 1,276 deaths as of June 21. The U.S. has about three times as many cases per capita as Canada. In a June 23 report by The New York Times, European countries preparing to reopen their borders are planning on blocking Americans traveling from the U.S. due to the country’s failure to control the virus. The U.S. has been lumped in with a group of countries including Russia, Brazil, China, Uganda and Vietnam. The criteria used to create the list has been based on rigorous scientific criteria, the report said, but echoes moves by the U.S. in March when air travel from Europe was closed down. The conditions of the border closure remain the same as before. Non-essential travel across the border is prohibited while essential travelers such as health profes-
s Local residents Carol and Stephen Fowler, r., sit on the U.S. side of Maple Beach to meet with her son Scott Jackson, l., daughter-inlaw Ginaya Peters and their three children, Ellis, Anya and Lucy Jackson who were sitting in Canada. Photo by Ginaya Peters
Hospital district votes to consider new operator B y P a t G r u bb The Point Roberts hospital district board of commissioners have voted against automatically renewing SuperTrack’s contract to operate the local clinic on Benson Road. The board took action at a special meeting held on June 20 after it received an unsolicited offer by Deb and John Shields to operate the clinic. The district had until June 30 to notify SuperTrack that it was not automatically renewing the contract for another term. At the district’s regular meeting on June 9, commissioners were presented with a proposal from Deb Shields, a physician’s assistant and previously one of the medical providers at the clinic, who stated that she and her husband, John, assistant Point Roberts fire chief, had formed the Shields Company and were prepared to present a bid to operate the clinic.
At that meeting, Shields offered an extensive preview of the services her company would provide for the community, including a network of collaborating consultants, telemedicine, 24/7 on-call coverage, a financial hardship program and a graduated rate structure, among others. Commissioner Stephen Falk started the special meeting which was held virtually using Zoom meeting software by stating the purpose of the meeting was to “discuss and possibly come to a conclusion to not automatically renew SuperTrack’s contract effective January 1.” He pointed out that if commissioners didn’t reach a conclusion then the contract would automatically roll over into a new term at the beginning of the year, according to the terms of the agreement. Fellow commissioner Richard Dennis clarified the nature of the discussion, saying, “We’re not talking about terminating
the contract, we’re talking about allowing it to expire.” Addressing the comments that had been received by the district, Dennis (See Hospital, page 6)
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Church ............................................. 14 Classifieds ......................................... 12 Coming Up ....................................... 14 Crossings .......................................... 13 Opinion ............................................... 4 Sheriffs.............................................. 13 Tides ................................................. 13
(See Border, page 3)
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