New COVID-19 case counts shot back up in Kamloops area last week

Photo: Contributed

B.C. CDC case counts by local health area for the week ending Feb. 27.

The number of confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in Kamloops last week was up sharply, but not as high as numbers recorded at the peak of the city’s case surge in late January and early February.

According to data released Wednesday by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, the Kamloops local health area recorded 124 positive COVID-19 cases between Feb. 21 and Feb. 27 — up significantly from 78 the previous week.

When the case surge peaked in late January and early February, the Kamloops local health area recorded a high of 161 new cases in a single week. Those numbers were recorded at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak at Royal Inland Hospital, and while outbreaks at a number of city long-term care homes were seeing regular growth.

The Kamloops local health area includes the city as well as Sun Peaks, Chase, Barriere, Logan Lake and Savona.

In early January, before case numbers began to increase, Kamloops was recording weekly new case counts in the 60s.