Long-term care outbreaks continue as Interior nears completion of first priority vaccinations

KAMLOOPS — Interior Health’s Chief Medical Health Officer held a COVID-19 update on Wednesday (Jan. 20), shedding light on the pandemic situation within the health authority.

As of Wednesday, IH has declared outbreaks over at Mountainview Village in Kelowna and the Village by the Station in Penticton. Meantime, Dr. Albert De Villiers says others in the region continue to fight virus spread including Gemstone Care Centre in Kamloops.

“Brocklehurst Gemstone long-term care in Kamloops has got 21 cases. Sixteen residents, five staff, and one death is connected to that outbreak as well.”

At the same time, the health authority is trying to make use of vaccine supplies to innoculate as many staff and residents as possible. As of Tuesday, there have been 14,211 immunizations within the Interior’s first priority group.

De Villiers says IH is on track to have long-term care residents vaccinated by next week and all staff who want the shot by the end of January. He notes that, like the flu shot, not everyone opts to receive the vaccine.

“We do strongly encourage the staff, and most of the staff actually do take the vaccine but there are also people who, due to some kind of an allergy or other issues, cannot take it. And there are some people, as with the general public, who choose not to take it.”

The B.C. Seniors Advocate and B.C. Care Providers Association have both called for the use of rapid tests as screening procedures for unvaccinated long-term care staff and visitors. When asked about the possibility of that practice, Dr. De Villiers says the tests do have potential.

“They have done some rapid testing pilots in Vancouver Coastal Health, and they were just sharing the information. They’re working on a protocol as to how to actually do this and what’s the best way to do this. So there will be some more information later on.”

Once people in the first priority group have been vaccinated, Interior Health will begin looking into Group Two vaccinations sometime in February.