SUNDRE- Travellers, outdoor enthusiasts and vacationers have been asked to refrain from making recreational plans in the West Country for the foreseeable future.
However, in the absence of having alternate accommodations, a handful of snowbirds who are home from their winter sanctuaries in the south have returned to their summer residences at local resorts.
Dean McBride, the head golf pro at Coyote Creek Golf and RV Resort, said people with primary residences elsewhere have been advised to stay in place. However, he added that those without alternate options have little choice upon returning to Canada but to self-quarantine on their properties at resorts like Coyote Creek.
Snowbirds who opted to extend their stay in the south will still have to quarantine for 14 days upon their return home, but there has not yet been a big influx of people coming out on weekends, said McBride last week.
“There’s so much snow out here still. I think people have been staying away,” he said.
“But I fear that when the weather does get a bit better, we are going to maybe see an influx.”
Bruce Johnson, general manager of Coyote Creek’s RV park, said the public seems to be complying with official requests to avoid riding out the pandemic on their recreational or secondary properties.
“The few people that we do have here are of course snowbirds that are coming back from down south. This is their only place. Other than that, everybody’s been adhering to the letters that were sent out,” he said.
“It’s pretty quiet right now. We’ve only got about four or five residents on our side,” he said, referring to the Coyote Creek RV park’s third phase, which includes a total of 128 saleable lots as well as 40 rentals.
The first and second phases, operated by a condo corporation, boast an additional 180 sites. About a dozen people are currently sheltering there. Water lines to individual sites had not yet been reactivated following the winter break, so people were directed to use jugs of bottled water to flush toilets and clean dishes, he said.
And although people who are still under quarantine are not permitted to leave their residence, those who have completed the 14-day period of self-isolation without developing symptoms have been granted access to recently-opened shower and laundry facilities under strict Alberta Health safety protocols, he said.
People had the option to book an appointment by phone, then pick up a key at the front desk at their allotted time, sign a dated statement declaring they’re off quarantine and not exhibiting symptoms nor have been in contact with any potentially contagious people before using the showers or laundry room.
After the keys are returned, staff conduct a thorough cleaning after each use before anyone else is allowed in, he said.
“The water is on to the shower and laundry building — that’s on year round, we never shut that off. But to the sites, the lines are shut down every November,” he said, adding there are just, “not enough residents in the winter time to keep the water moving.”
Once the water services are restored to each site, which was expected to happen this week, he said the shower and laundry facility would once again be locked up.
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While Alberta Health has declared RV parks essential in recognition that some residents have no alternate accommodations, the golf course itself remains deemed non-essential, he said.
McBride expressed optimism that a return to a semblance of normalcy is merely a matter of time.
“We just don’t know when,” he said, adding that the current most frequently asked question is when the golf course expects to open.
“No one has a crystal ball, no one knows the answer for sure. That’s kind of been the frustrating part.”
Regardless of the pandemic, the course would still be at least one month away from being able to open anyway because of an “extremely late spring."
By the time the snow finally melts and the fairways are ready, McBride expressed hope but not certainty that the pandemic’s peak will have passed and that golfers will be able to hit the greens, albeit with strict safety protocols like social distancing in place.
“It’s not going to be the same. It’s going to be different for the foreseeable future,” he said.
“Our mandate, like everyone else, is the health and safety of everyone — our members, our guests, our staff.”
