VANCOUVER -- With another long weekend upon us, ferry terminals and highways around the province are packed with excited travellers getting out of town for B.C. Day.

But that has also increased fears the province could see a surge in new COVID-19 cases, just as it did after the Canada Day long weekend.

“Much of the surge can be connected to Canada Day activities in and around the central Okanagan and particularly around the City of Kelowna,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry at her Thursday afternoon news conference.

“What you do today and this weekend will determine how we are going to be able to manage in the weeks and months ahead. So let’s all do the right thing. It’s how we care for our community, for our seniors and elders, for our families and friends.”

As always, Henry offered her reminders in a gentle and polite way, something SFU associate professor of communications Stuart Poyntz believes is the right approach when it comes to getting the message out to younger people.

“Shaming is a way of alienating young people and isolating them from the kind of collaboration and shared effort that we really need in this time,” said Poyntz.

It took a couple of weeks after the Canada Day parties in Kelowna for the provincial numbers to begin to spike, so it likely won’t be known until nearly mid-August whether the majority of people managed to follow physical distancing protocols this weekend.