COVID-19 outbreak at Ridgeview Lodge declared over, hospitalizations increase to 500 in B.C.

KAMLOOPS — The B.C. Ministry of Health announced that the COVID-19 outbreak at Ridgeview Lodge in Kamloops is declared over.

In Wednesday’s (Jan. 12) pandemic update from the province, five new healthcare facility outbreaks were declared, including Kelowna General Hospital. There are 49 active outbreaks in B.C., including Sun Pointe Village in Kelowna and Mont Cartier Court in Revelstoke.

B.C. reports that COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased to 500 on Wednesday, up by 31 since Tuesday. Of those patients, 102 are in intensive care, up by five.

Between Dec. 28 and Jan. 10, B.C. reported 615 COVID-19 hospitalizations. The fully vaccinated population accounted for 394 of those (64.1 per cent), the unvaccinated 194 (31.5 per cent), and the partially vaccinated 27 (4.4 per cent).

However, per 100,000 population adjusting for age, 47.2 patients were unvaccinated, 22.2 were partially vaccinated, and 8.5 were fully vaccinated.

Six new deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, none in Interior Health, for a provincial total of 2,455.

There were 2,859 COVID-19 cases reported on Wednesday, with 534 of them in Interior Health. Reported active cases increased to 36,641 in B.C. (up by 554) and 4,628 in Interior Health (up by 526).

Elsewhere, there were 982 new reported cases in Fraser Health (16,524 active), 697 in Vancouver Coastal Health (10,102), 451 in Island Health (4,245), and 195 in Northern Health (1,139).

As of Wednesday, 88.9 per cent (4,429,847) of eligible people five and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 83.2 per cent (4,148,538) have received their second. Additionally, 27.9 per cent of residents 12 and older (1,293,926) have received a third dose.