There were 640 new cases and 11 new deaths today in B.C. from COVID-19, including two deaths in the Interior, taking the provincial death toll to 724 people.
That includes 60 new cases in Interior Health, noting the two people who died were both residents of the McKinney Place long-term care home in Oliver. That care home has seen 56 total cases and, now, three residents have died. The cases there include 41 residents and 15 staff.
“This has been a challenging outbreak for everyone who lives at McKinney, their loved ones, and their staff and physicians who care committed to their care,” IH chief executive officer Susan Brown says in a statement.
“On behalf of everyone at Interior Health we send our condolences to the families and caregivers and despite this tragic news, we remain committed to the fight against COVID-19.”
Province-wide, there are now 356 people in hospital with the virus and 92 people in critical care, while active cases have dropped slightly to 9,978.
Within IH, there are now 782 active cases with 31 people in hospital and nine people in intensive care.
Health officials also say there were another 1,376 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were given to front-line health-care workers, for a total of 2,592 doses to date.
“The focus of our immunization program right now is to safely protect as many people as possible as efficiently as we can, but we have to remember that this is a global effort with many aspects often changing,” a statement said. “As more vaccine arrives in the coming weeks, we all need to be patient and continue to follow public health orders to keep our communities safe.”
And with the holiday season upon us – with Christmas one week away – people are reminded to avoid gathering with people not in their household.
“For many, that means getting together virtually over a meal, watching holiday movie favourites or discovering new ways to connect safely from afar, such as a holiday bake off over video conference or hosting an online games night or scavenger hunt with friends,” the statement added.
“This holiday season is about finding ways to celebrate safely, knowing that what we are doing now will help ensure we can safely spend time with our loved ones in the new year.”
