Podcast: U.S.-Canada border closure over COVID-19 leaves town stuck

Kay Wilen, left, a resident of Canada, passes a newspaper clipping across the U.S.-Canada border to Teresa Pope.
Kay Wilen, left, a resident of Canada, passes a newspaper clipping across the U.S.-Canada border to Leanne Gerber, Point Roberts, Wash., postmaster, as U.S. Border Patrol guards and Rosie the dog look on. (Richard Read / Los Angeles Times)

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Point Roberts, Wash., long prospered as an appendage of Canada. Its economy thrived on sales of gasoline, groceries and alcohol at prices considered a bargain by Canadians, whose frequent visits helped make the border station one of the busiest crossing points between the two countries.

Then on March 21, 2020, in response to the pandemic, U.S. and Canadian officials abruptly closed the border to nonessential travel — squeezing the peninsula like a tourniquet. It’s stayed closed ever since.

Today, L.A. Times Seattle bureau chief Richard Read brings you the story of a town where life has stopped and is slowly going away — another consequence of the ongoing pandemic.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times Seattle bureau chief Richard Read

More reading:

A U.S. town marooned at the tip of a Canadian peninsula

A Bit of U.S. Clinging to Canada, Point Roberts Waits for Boom

A woodsy Northwest retreat gets the water it wanted--with a flood of development

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.