The head of Thunder Bay’s Chamber of Commerce has some reservations looking ahead to Step 3.

The province enters Step 3 of the Roadmap to Reopen on Friday, which will mean no customer limits for retail stores or personal care services like salons, but there will still need to be two metres of distance maintained between people.

President Charla Robinson says it will be good for businesses to welcome more customers, but caution should be exercised to be able to get back to normal.

“We know that we haven’t yet reached the level of vaccination that is needed to make sure we’re all safe,” Robinson noted. “So we all need to be diligent, and that’ll help to keep our businesses open in the long term if we can keep our case numbers down because we’re all being as careful as we can.”

Robinson adds many businesses will need support, especially from the government, to recover from pandemic-related debt and to start making a profit again.

“We’re definitely not out of the woods yet, but it’s nice to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel with the re-opening this week,” added Robinson.

Step 3 will also allow gym, recreation centres and entertainment venues to reopen with capacity limits.