The mayor of Salmon Arm says most tourists appear to be following social distancing guidelines in the region.

The Shuswap has avoided an outbreak of COVID-19 like what has been seen in Kelowna or even Haida Gwaii, and like what is now circulating in parts of the Lower Mainland.

Alan Harrison says there is, however, ongoing concern from Shuswap residents of people potentially becoming complacent.

“Our expectations of the people who visit here and the same we have for our residents, and that’s to observe the guidelines that Dr. Bonnie Henry has put out. And I would say for the most part people are doing that. Tourism has picked up, especially regional tourism. I think people are having staycations. We’re seeing people come into town. It’s certainly busier than it was,” Harrison says.

“I think there is some concern from some residents that maybe we’re becoming complacent. And we do need to just make sure that we’re following the guidelines. Especially the indoor guidelines are totally out. We’re doing our best to try to monitor that, and to educate people.”

He says retail stores are doing their job as far as WorkSafeBC goes and that the downtown is  busier.

“And so we’re trying to claw our way back into some form of economic viability here.”

In the last three weeks of July, the Thompson, Cariboo and Shuswap regions had six cases of COVID-19, compared to 149 in the Okanagan.