B.C.’s Health Minister is against the reopening of the Canada-U.S. border to non-essential travel at the end of this month.

Adrian Dix says its because several states close to British Columbia and along the West Coast have seen COVID-19 cases spike in recent weeks, despite B.C. flattening its own curve.

“In Washington, in Oregon, in California, in Arizona, in Nevada – states where there is many reciprocal relationships or where people from British Columbia go frequently, there are significant upticks in the case counts in the month of June,” he said on Monday.

“That continues to be a problem for us in terms of reopening the borders to visitors anytime soon.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced that a ban on non-essential crossings is being eased so some families can reunite, but anyone who does so still has to self-quarantine for two weeks. Dix went on to say that the spikes in the United States is why British Columbia has to be vigilant, especially at the border, in order to keep transmission rates low.

“This is not something that we see as desirable, but it is something that I see as necessary,” Dix added. “We have made, and the federal government has made, provisions for people whose families have been separated [to be reunited]. Even there, the rules have to apply in terms of self isolation on return to Canada.”

The border has been closed to all non-essential travel since March after the two countries reached an agreement, which has since been extended two times. It is currently set to expire on June 21.

“We, in the province, are spending enormous effort and resources,” Dix added. “Every single person watching this can talk about the efforts they’ve made over the last number of months to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and we have to, for those reasons, be significantly, especially vigilant.”