Save your Mother’s Day hugs for the May long weekend

As the COVID-19 talk turns more and more to easing restrictions, Premier John Horgan said it’s still too early, in most cases, to give your mother a hug on Mother’s Day this Sunday.

“If my mom was here, I would want to hug her on Mother’s Day but these are choices you have to make,” Horgan said at a news briefing earlier this week. “We’re not prescribing to British Columbians who they interact with and how they interact with them – only to say the best way to protect everyone is to observe social distancing, be sure you’re washing your hands regularly but, if your circle has been tight, I welcome you to hug your mom. If your mom has got a compromised immune system, it’s best to keep that distance.”

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has stressed repeatedly that the social distancing restrictions are not here forever and that people can start slowly to expand their social circles, just not yet.

“We’re looking at the middle of May,” she said at the same news briefing. “If we’re doing the same things we’re doing in the next week and a half, by the long weekend is the time that we will be able to go out and hug our family.”

She said there were 23 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 (on that day) in B.C. and health care workers are still following hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus.

She has also stressed that any expansion of the number of family or friends that are allowed within the two metre safe distancing range should be done slowly and carefully. Each new person increases the potential number of contacts with others who could be carriers of the virus.

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