Residents `fed up'
Popular travel spots irked as visitors keep coming
There's coronavirus fatigue, then there's the general weariness and frustration of saying for 13 months now: Stay home!
There was an enough-is-enough feeling from people who got in touch with Postmedia News, reacting to the latest directive from Dr. Bonnie Henry to not venture out of your own neighbourhood.
“For over a year our neighbourhood has been swarming with people who clearly do not live here,” White Rock's Shelley Morgan said.
She has to drive to 0 Avenue to get to her home and her route passes Peace Arch Park, a patch of grass between the U.S. and Canadian border that on nice days can have a Lollapalooza atmosphere, there are so many people mingling.
“Every weekend you will see a sea of tents as if you were at a festival,” Morgan said. “It's jaw-dropping.
“Do I want these restrictions? Yes! You can speak to anyone in the vicinity of Peace Arch Park and the conversation is the same. We're fed up with the disrespect to our homes and health.”
On Monday, Henry told B.C. residents to stay in their neighbourhoods as much as possible.
Shane Constantinescu lives in Langley but has a place near Salmon Arm. He went there during the past week because his mom was admitted to hospital.
“On my drive back on Sunday, I noticed a crazy amount of Alberta cars on the Coq headed west,” he said.
Some stores, he added, cater to the Albertans who have recreation properties in the area with signs reading: “We won't judge your licence plates.”
Some said Henry hasn't been firm enough, others that she sends mixed signals. Why, for instance, are airports open? Chris Wilkinson wondered. The new variants weren't introduced by someone hiking or meeting a friend for lunch inside a restaurant, he said.
In Squamish, they're worried that the COVID-19 outbreak that happened in Whistler will happen there next, Nikki Rotmeyer said.
“Squamish is literally overrun with people from out of the region every weekend — it's brutal,” she said.
In Kamloops, hiking enthusiast Amanda Davidson raised the issue of physical and mental health.
“Dr. Henry needs to stop tiptoeing around and just shut the province down again, but accept that people will go camping to get out in the fresh air,” Davidson said. “If Dr. Henry wants us to stay in our 'hoods, camping needs to go. She keeps saying no indoor gatherings, so we meet everyone outside. This is where the confusion lies: One day do this, but the next day don't.
“It has to be one way or another.”