Point Roberts, a tiny community cut off from the rest of the country by Canada, has had no reported cases yet

Point Roberts is a geographical anomaly. The small town on a five-square-mile peninsula is connected solely to Canada, but it extends just below the 49th parallel, officially making it part of the US.

Getting to Point Roberts from Washington, the closest American state, means traveling by private boat, flying into its single-runway airport or driving 27 miles through the south-west corner of Canada, passing through two international border crossings.

But it is this unique isolation that has helped keep the 1,300 residents of Point Roberts out of the crosshairs of the coronavirus pandemic so far.

“It’s probably the safest place to be in the country,” said Pamala Sheppard, 65, who has lived in Point Roberts since 1989.

“Because our borders are shut, we’re like an island right now,” she added. “We’re like an island with no boats.”

In an effort to curb the spread of the virus, last month the US and Canada agreed to temporarily close their borders to all non-essential travel. While food, fuel and other goods can still get through, everyone else faces much stiffer requirements.

The decision largely cut off the already fairly insulated town from Canadian visitors, but also from the rest of its own country.

Christopher Carleton, Point Roberts fire chief, said on a typical weekend in 2019, the town would see about 2,000 cars travel over its border, many of whom are tourists. That number has now dipped below 100.

Point Roberts residents are still able to get over the border for essential travel, such as doctor’s appointments and to pick up prescription medications. But anyone trying to get into the town who is not a resident and has no family they are coming in to take care of, would have a difficult time getting past border agents, he explained.

“Economically it’s hurting our community, as with any community that’s going through this at this point, but it is in a sense also protecting our community,” Carleton told the Guardian.

Carleton said locally there are no known cases of Covid-19 in the community. He said there was the possibility that a resident traveled on their own to mainland US for a diagnosis, but no cases have been reported to the town’s first responders.

It’s probably the safest place to be in the country.

A coronavirus outbreak in Point Roberts could be devastating. Carleton said about 70% of its residents are 60 or older, the age group considered to be at higher risk of severe illness if infected.

The town only has a clinic with a nurse practitioner and physician’s assistant, and while it does have Emergency Medical Services (EMS) prepared to respond to any patients reporting symptoms of coronavirus, paramedics would have to transport seriously ill patients to mainland US to reach a hospital.

Carleton said patients could be transported by ground through Canada or by helicopter.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The US and Canadian flags fly in Point Roberts. Photograph: Max Lindenthaler/Alamy

As of Tuesday, the US has seen 609,531 cases, including 26,057 deaths, according to the count maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Canada has seen about 27,557 cases, including 954 deaths, according to the government’s website.

Point Roberts is following the social distancing measures put in place by the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, including the stay-home mandate, which involves a ban on all gatherings and the closure of all non-essential businesses.

Sheppard said this is pretty easy, given how much space everyone has to spread out. On the day she spoke with the Guardian, she said she and her husband were planning to go out for a beach date with some friends. They each planned to sit 10 feet apart, and fully expected not to see anyone else out there at the same time.

When she leaves her half-acre property to go to the local grocery store, she wears a mask and gloves, and she’s cut down her border crossings from twice a day to only twice in the past three weeks. She said her most recent trip to pick up chicken food involved a 20-minute interview at the Canadian border, where she was asked about her reason for traveling and whether she or anyone she knew had been sick.

But she’s also noticed the economic impacts of the outbreak firsthand. Her shop, Auntie Pam’s Country Store, which sells everything from organic soap to cashmere scarfs, had to close a few weeks ago because it’s not considered an essential business.

She joked that the store is the “number one tourist attraction” on the peninsula, since there’s not really any other shops in the community apart from the grocery store. But on a more serious note, she said if she was not able to open this summer, the busiest season, she would have to shut what she calls her “dream store” for good.

Theresa Coe, 57, who works at the Point Roberts Marina, said she had noticed fewer boats coming in and out of the town, probably owing to the fact that most at the marina are Canadian-owned. All recreational fishing has also been closed in Washington state until at least 4 May.

Coe, who has lived in Point Roberts since 2008, said when she drives the mile and a half from her home to the marina each day, she doesn’t see anyone on the streets, and the typically full grocery store parking lot has only a few cars.

“This is the safest place in probably North America; definitely within the states,” she said. “You have US customs coming in and Canadian customs going out. Nothing’s going to happen here or very little.”