Shuswap Lake area residents anxious about arrival of seasonal visitors

“We’re all very concerned about the pandemic and the impact it’s having. We know that our quickest return to any sort of normalcy will be by keeping those numbers low. And we need to heed the advice of our chief medical health officer,” says Kyllo. “When you have residents from outside of our local area coming in, you have to kind of question why they aren’t actually listening and taking advice from chief medical officers, from all the provinces across Canada.”

Locals in the North Shuswap / Scotch Creek area are used to seeing population swells once the weather begins to warm up — however this year’s seasonal influx was met with mixed reactions.

“They’ve been coming out here for the last three weeks at least. Even before they warned people to stay home. Lot of people from out of province — specifically Albertans,” one North Shuswap man told CFJC Today. “It bothers me, but what are you going to do about it? There’s nothing you can do.”

Another woman told CFJC Today that she was hoping people would see the bigger picture with why the travel restriction recommendations are in place.

“I understand that people want to come here because it’s their second home, that sort of thing. But we need to be reasonable and we need to all be on the same page. We’re not going to bend the curve if we don’t.”

Upon exiting a local area grocery store, another North Shuswap resident noted that physical distancing was followed inside, and he thought that people who did come out to the area were trying their best.

“You’re starting to see a few more trailers, and vans, and boats coming in,” he says. “So yeah I think it’s starting to increase, which is typical I think from previous years.”

Despite heightened anxiety around seeing more people in the area, Kyllo says he’s seen that virus prevention efforts have largely been taken seriously by residents around the Shuswap.

“For the most part, I think vehicle traffic on the roads was certainly down,” Kyllo notes. “Easter is obviously a very important weekend. A lot of folks from the Lower Mainland, or out of province, typically come to our communities to check on their seasonal residence. And certainly in Sicamous, we didn’t see near the amount of travel.”

Kyllo says in his opinion, direct trips from a nearby home to a lake-area property appear to be fine, but when side trips out to communities stores enter the equation, that can be problematic.

“Might be a little different though if you’re coming from a neighbouring province, or the Lower Mainland, or Vancouver Island to come and check on your cabin, because obviously there’s a lot more travel involved and a lot more potential to interact with other residents.”

Heading into a summer of uncertainty around what sort of travel will be possible, Kyllo says he and other Shuswap residents hope tourists and seasonal home owners will show restraint, and stay home if that’s what is asked of them.

“To British Columbians, and especially residents here in the Shuswap — you guys have done a fantastic job, but just because the sun is out, it does not mean that we can get back to normal just yet,” he stresses. “So again, I just want people to be very respectful of the advice of our chief medical officer.”

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Shuswap Lake area residents anxious about arrival of seasonal visitors

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