Photo: IH

Ceremonial first vaccines to an Elder and a nurse at Canim Lake.

New COVID-19 cases skyrocketed in the Kamloops region last week, with the rate of new infections surpassing most regions in the province.

From Jan. 7 to 13, 282 new cases of the virus were identified among residents of the Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap region – an area that includes Kamloops, Merritt, Revelstoke, 100 Mile House and Lillooet.

This is more than double the number of new cases the health service delivery area saw the previous week, and works out to a rate of just under 120 weekly infections per 100,000 people.

B.C.'s average weekly rate of infection last week was 68.8 per 100,000.

A higher rate of infection last week was only found in the Northwest region of the province – where the rate has skyrocketed to 208 infections per 100,000 – and in the Fraser South and Fraser East regions, at 132 and 122 infections per 100,000 respectively.

While the BC Centre for Disease Control usually releases more granular data every Wednesday, which would show where in the Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap region the new cases are spiking, that data has been delayed this week due to “incomplete data.”

On Wednesday, a COVID-19 outbreak was declared at Kamloops' Brocklehurst Gemstone long-term care home, after four residents tested positive. It's the first care home in Kamloops where residents have tested positive for the virus, after an outbreak at The Hamlets was contained to a single staff member.

An outbreak for Canim Lake was declared on Monday, when IH disclosed 32 positive COVID-19 in the small First Nations community, located 40 kilometres east of 100 Mile House.

Meanwhile, new cases in the Okanagan continued to fall last week with 232 new cases identified from Jan. 7 to 13, down from 303 the week prior. This works out to a weekly infection rate of 59 per 100,000.

New cases in the Kootenay Boundary region dropped to just eight last week, compared to 24 the week before, while there were 21 new cases in the East Kootenay region, up from 14 the previous week.

On Thursday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry noted the rising cases in the Interior were directly linked to holiday gatherings and other small social gatherings across the region.

As of Thursday, there are 10 active COVID-19 outbreaks in Interior long-term care homes, where 29 residents have died.