Dr. Fenton, Interior Health: ‘We’re seeing more cases than we’ve ever seen in the Interior’

KAMLOOPS — With COVID-19 cases rising, it’s unsure if the province will move forward with its reopening plan on September 7.

“We’re seeing more cases than we’ve ever seen in the Interior,” said Dr. Carol Fenton, medical health officer at Interior Health.

New COVID-19 cases are on the rise throughout the Interior region and mostly unvaccinated people between the ages of 20 and 40 are testing positive.

“90% of the cases we are seeing now are the Delta variant and the unvaccinated population are particularly susceptible to catching the Delta variant and spreading it,” Dr. Fenton told CFJC News.

She said Interior Health is keeping a close eye on the growing Kamloops cases which come as no surprise with some residents visiting Kelowna and vice versa.

“We’re sitting at about 79% of people in Kamloops region who’ve had the first dose, and that means that there’s 20% of our population who are completely unvaccinated, completely susceptible,” Dr. Fenton explained.

May and June offered a bit of relief with low case counts, but now COVID-19 is back at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

CFJC News spoke to Kamloops residents in Riverside Park on Thursday and many were feeling frustrated.

“I just wish people would get their head out of their butt and get their vaccination and start treating it like it is something serious,” said a 70-year-old man.

“If everybody does their part and just gets vaccinated, I think we’ll beat this thing,” trailed a grandmother of 7.

B.C. could enter Stage 4 of its reopening plan as early as September 7, but with cases rising, Dr. Fenton said that might not happen. It’s also the first day back at school and it hasn’t been determined what precautions will be in place to prevent the spread of the Delta variant.

“In communities where there’s high risk and high transmission you may see mask mandates in schools, and those that are lower risk, lower transmission, you may not see that,” Dr. Fenton said.

CFJC News also asked residents how they felt about kids at school without masks on and they weren’t fond of it.

Dr. Fenton said the best way to protect transmission between children is to ensure the adults and youth around them are vaccinated — which she believes is also the best way to get the new case count down in Kamloops.