The door to the resort room on Vancouver Island greeted us with a safety seal after we checked in at the Sooke Harbour Resort & Marina. Inside, the unit was as spotless as a Biosafety Level 4 lab, and extra blankets and towels in the hall closet were sheathed in plastic wrap to prove their cleanliness.
These housekeeping measures helped put my mind at ease during our family’s first foray from home since B.C. began welcoming travellers again in June. But I probably needn’t have obsessed. On a scale of 1 (low risk) to 10 (high risk), staying at a hotel for two nights rates a low–moderate number of 4 – it’s safer than attending a backyard barbecue, but riskier than picking up groceries – according to a risk assessment chart produced by the Texas Medical Association Covid–19 Task Force and Committee on Infectious Disease.