COVID-19 case counts are rising in Thompson Cariboo Shuswap region, B.C. CDC data shows

Photo: B.C. Centre for Disease Control

The Thompson Cariboo Shuswap health service delivery area recorded 128 new cases of COVID-19 between April 9 and April 15.

The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 last week in the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap was more than at any point since late February, but well below numbers recorded when Kamloops was in the middle of a regional spike in cases.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s health service delivery area data shows 128 positive tests in the region between April 9 and April 15 — up from 91 the week prior.

The Thompson Cariboo Shuswap health service delivery area includes Kamloops, Merritt, Salmon Arm, Revelstoke, Clearwater, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Lillooet and Ashcroft.

In January and February, when new COVID-19 cases were surging in Kamloops, Williams Lake and 100 Mile House, the area recorded more than 300 new cases in three consecutive weeks, with a high of 336 coming during the week ending on Jan. 21.

During a six-week period at the peak of second-wave cases in the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap, between Jan. 8 and Feb. 18, the area was recording an average of 270 new cases per week.

In the most recent six-week period for which there is data, between March 5 and April 15, the average of new cases per week in the area has been 89.

The last time the health service delivery area recorded more than 128 cases of COVID-19 in a single week was on the week ending Feb. 25, when 141 people tested positive for the virus.

In the Kamloops local health area, a smaller region consisting of the city and Sun Peaks, Logan Lake, Chase and Barriere, weekly cases doubled last week to 96 — well shy of the record 161 recorded in early February.

To the south, the Okanagan has seen a spike in cases recently. The region recorded 414 new cases of COVID-19 during the week ending April 15 — the most it has seen at any point in the pandemic.