Whatcom border travel decreased 83% in 2020. Will a new U.S. administration bring change?

After a year when the pandemic made non-essential cross-border travel nonexistent, 2021 is expected to be a year of a slow, gradual recovery.

The number of people who crossed the border into Whatcom County from British Columbia in 2020 totaled 2.1 million, according to data gathered by the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University. Most of those travelers came before March 21, when the border was closed to non-essential travel to try and slow the spread of COVID-19. The current restrictions remain in place through at least Feb. 21, although that deadline is expected to be extended.

That travel total is a decrease of 83% compared to 2019 and is a larger percentage drop than the overall numbers across the U.S.-Canada border, said Laurie Trautman, director at the institute.