There were 121 new COVID-19 cases in the Kamloops local health area last week, as the region continues to see a spike in new cases.
The data August 8-14 was released late on Wednesday by the BC Centre for Disease Control.
With that, the Kamloops area more than doubled cases compare to the past week, when there were 59 between August 1-7. And last week’s count is nearly five-times what it was between July 25-31 for the area, when there were 26 cases.
The rising count is being seen in many areas of the province, despite more than 82 per cent of people 12 and older having a first vaccine dose and more than 73 per cent being fully vaccinated.
According to the BC CDC, between June 15 and July 15 fewer than five per cent of new COVID-19 cases were among people who are fully vaccinated. In that month, it says there were 1,210 cases and 137 hospitalizations among unvaccinated people, compared to 499 cases and 31 people in hospital among those with just one dose, and 68 cases and eight hospitalizations among those who were fully vaccinated.
“Unvaccinated people are at significantly greater risk of severe outcomes. Getting vaccinated protects yourself, your older loved ones and your community,” the update said. Among unvaccinated hospitalizations in that month, the majority of patients admitted were between 30 and 69 years old, with the greatest amount, 35 people, being in their thirties.
Meanwhile, the Central Okanagan continues to be the epicentre for new cases in the province, as a COVID-19 outbreak in the Kelowna area is now into its fourth week. The Central Okanagan reported a whopping 922 new cases last week, which passed its previous record high set a week earlier of 849.
Many other local health areas in Interior Health also saw extremely high case counts last week on a per-capita basis, including Vernon (109), Nelson (117), Creston (49), Castlegar (34), Revelstoke (33), Hope (17), and Golden and Enderby (13 each). Those areas, along with the Central Okanagan, the Cariboo-Chilcotin (51), the Nechako (44), and Kitimat (15) had the highest per-capita cases in the province last week, with each area having more than 20 cases per 100,000 people.
Closer to Kamloops, new weekly cases also more than doubled last week in Merritt, with 17 compared to six the week earlier. The North Thompson had two cases, 100 Mile had six and the Southern Cariboo had seven.
