More people in B.C.’s Interior are getting tested for COVID-19.
Dr. Silvina Mema, medical health officer with the Interior Health Authority, says IHA is following B.C.’s new testing strategy.
“Now that we have time, we can slow down, have capacity to widen our net and absorb more individuals who may walk forward and get tested,” she told Global News on Wednesday.
Previously in B.C., testing was reserved for high-risk groups and vulnerable populations.
Currently, anyone with symptoms, such as a cough or fever, can be tested for the novel coronavirus.
Mema said its revamped strategy is an evolution based on increased lab testing capabilities and the changing pandemic situation.
“We have seen the number of cases really slow down, and that is very good news,” she said.
“That is very fortunate that we are not seeing that increase that we were very concerned about at the beginning, it has slowed down and it’s steady, so we want to make sure we are not missing cases.”
The majority of testing is still being done at 14 designated appointment-only sites across the Interior Health region, but some family physicians and nurse practitioners are also conducting tests.
“Our preference is that people go to the testing sites because that is where we are focusing our efforts,” Mema said.
The swabs are now being processed at four labs within IHA, including Kelowna and Kamloops, instead of being shipped off to Vancouver.
“The Kelowna General Hospital lab is testing hundreds of samples and since we started having this capacity, we have tested over 6,000 samples here in IH,” she said.
More than 65,000 tests have been completed province-wide, including more than 9,000 in the Interior Health region.
“We went from days to hours in the turnaround time reporting,” Mema said
Interior Health says most people in the Interior Health region who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 experience mild symptoms. Under a dozen people are in hospital.
Mema says she is satisfied that most people living in the Interior Health region are practicing social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“People have taken the recommendations very seriously and that is good,” she said.
“That has had an impact on the number of cases that we have, so we are fortunate that we are not seeing those big peaks in terms of number of cases.”
As of Wednesday, there have been 153 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in IH, and 97 people have fully recovered.
Local MLAs and health officials are hosting a virtual town hall on Thursday night to answer questions from the public.
It will be streamed online and more information can be found here.