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“‘Stay away.’ ‘Biggest petri dish in the world.’ The view from Canada, of us, isn’t so nice.” That is the title of Danny Westneat’s column published in the Seattle Times July 26.

Its essential point: Even though Canadians are friendly and hospitable, they don’t want visitors from here until we’re able to get the pandemic under control. Currently, every American is seen as a loaded vector of disease, and an overwhelming majority of Canadians want to keep the border with the U.S. closed through 2020. [link below]

This is relevant to La Conner, since before the pandemic and closing the border, there was a fair number of tourists shopping here from there. I don’t know if there’s data that provides percent of dollars spent by our Canadian friends, but I will guess it is somewhere between 20% and 30%. What I find disappointing are the number of people, both local and tourists, not wearing masks downtown in situations where six feet distancing is impossible. So why would Canadians even want to come here, even if they could?

American exceptionalism during a pandemic loosely translated: Arrogant, selfish, tone-deaf, ignorant or just plain stupid.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/stay-away-biggest-petri-dish-in-the-world-the-view-from-canada-of-us-isnt-so-nice/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_inset_1.1

Bill Allen

La Conner