A drop in number of new COVID-19 cases in the Kamloops local health area with 158 reported during the week of Sept. 12 and 18.
That’s down from the record 270 cases set during the week of Sept. 5 and 11, marking the end of four straight weeks where the area which includes Kamloops, Sun Peaks, Chase, Barriere, Little Fort, Savona, Tobiano, and Logan Lake either set or matched the all-time record.
With this drop in cases, the average daily case rate has dropped slightly to between 15.1 and 20 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Mayor Ken Christian is still asking people to continue to be cautious as he says we’re in the thick of the pandemic’s fourth wave which is being fuelled by the Delta variant.
“My urging to the public is that they limit their social interactions. By all means, do not attend work, school, church, or social events if you are sick… I think because we’ve been at this so long we’ve become a bit complacent in terms of some of our behaviour,” he said. “It is time we ramp those right back up because we are really facing a challenge.”
As of Sept. 16, the Kamloops local health area had an 85 per cent vaccination rate, when looking at first doses only among people 12 and older, with 76 per cent fully vaccinated.
Further broken down, 82 per cent of people over the age of 12 Kamloops Centre North have one dose while 73 per cent are fully vaccinated. In Kamloops Centre South, 90 per cent of people have one dose and 81 per cent are fully vaccinated.
“For the few remaining Kamloopsians who are vaccine complacent, I would hope that they would avail themselves of many of the pop-up vaccination opportunities that the Interior Health Authority is making available,” Christian added. “We need to protect our acute care space right now. It is at a premium, if not exhausted.”
In the Merritt area though, there was an increase in new cases to 21, up from the 11 cases reported the previous week.
Elsewhere, there were 257 cases in the Kelowna area (down from 360), 112 cases in Vernon (down from 165), 78 cases in Salmon Arm (down from 104), and 19 cases in 100 Mile House area (up from nine).
There was a decrease in the Cariboo/Chilcotin with 77 new cases (down from 95) while the South Cariboo saw 17 cases (down from 23). In the North Thompson, there were five new cases (up from four).
Across Interior Health, only the Kootenay Lakes local health area did not report a new COVID case.
As of Wednesday, there were 324 people in hospital with COVID – an increase of 12.5 per cent from the 288 people in hospital at this time last week. Of that, 157 people were in intensive care, an increase of 15 per cent from the 137. In Interior Health, there are 53 people in hospital with the virus, with 51 of those people in the ICU.
There was a high average daily rate of new COVID cases across Northern Health, where more than a dozen hospital patients have had to be to hospitals on the coast as resources are stretched to the limit.
A full map of last week’s COVID-19 case count by locations can be found here.
A drop in number of new #COVID19 cases in the #Kamloops local health area with 158 cases between Sept 12 and 18.
That’s down from the record 270 the week before.
It is also the end of four straight weeks where we either set or matched the all time record. #COVID19BC pic.twitter.com/nPkyQhvkhz
— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) September 22, 2021
Further broken down, 82% of people 12+ in #Kamloops Centre North have one dose, 73% are fully vaccinated.
In Kamloops Centre South, 90% have one dose, 81% are fully vaccinated. #COVID19BC pic.twitter.com/i9HaiGwIeT
— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) September 21, 2021
