Thought of the Day - September 15 2021 - Travel

It was almost exactly a year ago when I took the identical road trip from Vancouver through

the mountains to Calgary ( Thought of the Day - September 18 - Alberta Bound ). This year it is interesting to reflect on what is the same and what has changed in the last twelve months.

Traffic volume was much the same, maybe with a few more U-Hauls heading east. The highway improvements continue, the stretch east of Shuswap has now been completed, and now it is Golden's turn. The wildfire smoke is not as thick as last year but still gives a ochre pall to the east of BC.

There were some differences with the restaurants along the way. Last year dine-in was not allowed, yet masks were few and far between (as our experts were still squabbling over the merits); the reverse it true this year. Moreover, "Help Wanted" signs are now everywhere.

Last year of course COVID was still fairly new. Canada had reopened in the summer and while cases in September were creeping up, they were still very low - both BC and Alberta had around 1,500 active cases at that time. This year the variants have arrived, and policy cards have been played. Alberta currently has over twelve times more cases compared to last year, and BC four times. BC is now busy with mandates and vaccine passports, and Alberta is not. Even with Alberta's vaccine incentives (the lottery and now a $100 payment) the province has about a 10% lower vaccination rate than BC. Despite vaccinations, both provinces are preparing for the continuation of the current wave, and the resulting escalation in hospitalizations.

That said, even with significant differences in policy, after arriving from BC I have found views on the pandemic in Alberta are very similar to BC. While difficult to generalize, I would say we share a common frustration with the lack of progress in putting this pandemic, and the resulting impacts of its mitigation, behind us.

Cheers

Cliff