Central Okanagan once again sees highest single week COVID cases

Photo: BC CDC

New COVID-19 cases by local health area, identified between Aug. 8 and 14.

New COVID-19 cases continue to rise to unprecedented levels in the Central Okanagan, and across the rest of the Interior, while hospitalizations are now following suit.

New geographical data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows 992 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the Central Okanagan between Aug. 8 and 14, once again breaking the record for the highest number of new cases the region has had in a single week.

Vernon also broke its single-week record, with 109 new cases last week. The region's previous single-week high came back in early January, when 98 people tested positive.

The Central Okanagan has been the worst hit region in British Columbia for the last month, with cases jumping every week. Between July 11 and 17, 53 cases were identified in the region; a month later, the weekly case count has risen by 1,770 per cent.

But the rise in case numbers is at least slowing. Between July 18 - 24 and July 25 - 31, weekly cases jumped by 194 per cent, and the following week, cases jumped by 89 per cent. Most recently, that increase has slowed to just 8.5 per cent.

But cases are rising rapidly across much of the Interior. Last week saw the Nelson region smash its previous single-week case record, with 117 new cases, while Creston, Cranbrook and Castlegar also posted their highest single-week totals last week, at 49, 32 and 34 respectively.

The Kamloops area recorded 121 new cases last week, its highest single-week total since February, while Penticton had 33 new cases, its highest since late April.

Across the Interior, there are now 41 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 20 of whom are being treated in critical care. This is double the number of hospitalizations and ICU patients in the health authority compared to two weeks ago, and the majority of these cases are in the Central Okanagan.

Additionally, six people with COVID-19 have died in the Interior in the past two weeks.

The vast majority of new COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths in B.C. continue to be among those who are unvaccinated. But the BC CDC has been slow to provide timely data about so-called “breakthrough cases.” The most up-to-date data shows that between June 24 and July 24, 64 per cent of new cases were among the unvaccinated, while 30 per cent were among those with just one dose. Fully vaccinated people made up just six per cent of the new cases over that time period.

Just seven per cent of hospitalizations and six per cent of deaths over that time period were among fully vaccinated people.

Meanwhile, new case rates in the Lower Mainland remain lower than much of the Interior, but new cases rose last week in almost all of the Lower Mainland local health areas.