"Stay local, stay close."
Premier John Horgan told reporters in the daily coronavirus (COVID-19) briefing on Thursday (May 20) that British Columbians need to continue to abide by the provincial health restrictions through the long weekend.
"There are public health orders in place. There are travel restrictions in place. Not to the beginning of the long weekend, but to the end of the long weekend," he said.
The premier noted that he is "confident" people can continue to follow the orders through a final long weekend to "protect our frontline workers who have been there for us" over the pandemic.
"They need us right now to follow the orders so that we can have the summer that we all want to see," he added.
"We need to follow the rules until we come out of this circuit breaker."
When asked if he is worried about people travelling over the long weekend, Horgan stated that the Province has been clear for several weeks that whenever there has been a long weekend there has been a surge in cases of COVID-19.
"So I want British Columbians to understand that I appreciate it's going to be a gorgeous weekend - certainly in the part of B.C. that I have the good fortune of living in and I suspect in many, many other parts of the province. So stay local, stay close. If you have a cottage within your health authority that of course is absolutely okay by me," he said.
"We need to follow the rules until we come out of this circuit breaker."
Stronger province-wide restrictions are in effect until Monday (May 24) at midnight.
The BC RCMP will be conducting road checks on major B.C. highways in an effort to curb recreational travel in the province. Last weekend, over 2,000 drivers were stopped at road checks in the province but police didn't issue any tickets. However, 30 drivers who were travelling for nonessential purposes voluntarily turned around after police pulled them over.
