Interior Health sees 542 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend; active caseload drops by more than 200

KAMLOOPS — According to the latest update from health officials, Interior Health accounted for about a quarter of B.C.’s new COVID-19 cases over a three-day period.

Between Sept. 10 and 13, the province is reporting 1,984 new cases of COVID-19, with 542 of them in Interior Health.

Provincially, there are 5,825 active cases of COVID-19 in the province (down by 25 since Sept. 10), with 1,618 of them in Interior Health (down by 210). Of the provincial active cases, 278 individuals are hospitalized with 139 in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Health Minister Adrian Dix noted during Monday’s (Sept. 13) news conference that Royal Inland Hospital is treating 32 COVID-19 patients with 13 in intensive care.

There were nine new deaths over the three-day stretch: three were in Interior Health. The provincial total is 1,865.

Elsewhere, there were 609 new cases in Fraser Health (1,711 active), 319 in Vancouver Coastal Health (945), 220 in Island Health (607) and 294 in Northern Health (931). There were no new cases from people who reside out of Canada, although 13 cases are still active.

The daily breakdown is as follows:

• Sept. 10 to 11: 823 new cases
• Sept. 11 to 12: 641 new cases
• Sept. 12 to 13: 520 new cases

There are 24 active outbreaks in long-term care, with 15 of them in Interior Health. That includes Kamloops Senior Village, Hillside Village in Salmon Arm, the Hamlets at Westsyde and Nicola Meadows in Merritt.

As of Sept. 13, 85.8 per cent (3,978,624) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 78.4 per cent (3,632,547) have received their second.

Vaccine status

Between Sept. 3 and 9, there were 4,779 COVID-19 cases reported, with 69.2 per cent (3,305) of those from unvaccinated individuals, 8.6 per cent (411) from partially vaccinated, and 22.2 per cent (1,063) from fully vaccinated.

In that timeframe per 100,000 population, 306.3 were unvaccinated, 92.9 were partially vaccinated and 27.4 were fully vaccinated.

Over the past two weeks (Aug. 27 to Sept. 9), there were 348 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Unvaccinated individuals accounted for 81 per cent (282), partially vaccinated 5.2 per cent (18), and fully vaccinated 13.8 per cent (48). Per 100,000 population, unvaccinated individuals had 38.4, while partially vaccinated had 7.0 and fully vaccinated had 1.1 hospitalizations.