B.C.’s top doctor says a further easing of COVID-19 restrictions as part of the province’s restart plan does not mean you’re able to drastically expand your social bubble.

Dr. Bonnie Henry made those comments, while admitting that she is nervous as B.C. moved into Phase 3 of its restart plan almost two weeks ago, which will include easing travel restrictions.

“So we need to be mindful of our own circumstance as we did when we moved into Phase 2,” she said. “We slowly, cautiously increased our bubble and we need to do that again, having those important caveats in place. So if I have people in my family who are elderly, I’m may not want to increase my bubble any more than that.”

She says COVID-19 is still in the province, adding that we have to find the right balance that allows for fewer restrictions while keeping the number of new cases from spiking to an unmanageable rate.

“And we have to be very wary of who it is that we might be impacting when we are having increased contacts,” Henry added. “But I do think that we are at a place where we can do cautiously more social connection, things that we need to help us to see our families, to see our friends.”

Henry noted that she would not have given the green light for people travel within the province if it wasn’t safe to do so. Most of the province’s active cases are in the Lower Mainland.

“We’ve increased the number of places we are going, and as we gradually move into things like hotels and spas and travel, we are going to increase those contacts,” she added. “But we all, each of us, have to keep those bubbles small, and that is what is going to maintain us not having rapid growth of the virus.”

On that note, there are several B.C. First Nations who say they are not ready to welcome people to their communities, even as people begin to travel more frequently.

Dr. Shannon McDonald, the Acting Chief Medical Officer for the First Nations Health Authority says the decision to move to Phase 3 is a political one, but one that was made very carefully.

“Am I concerned? Absolutely. And Dr. Henry has said previously that we know there will be cases,” McDonald said. “And that’s why our recommendations about physical distancing and hand-washing and not gathering in groups, and making sure surfaces are very clean, especially in service establishments, that those pieces will be in place to protect communities.”

“Some communities will choose not to welcome guests. They are self-determining nations and they can make those choices, and I’m not going to disagree with them.”

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix also noted that one only needs to look at the spike in COVID-19 cases in the United States as an example of why people in the province need to be more careful when going about their daily lives.