Health officials announced one death and 44 new cases for the Interior Health region on Friday afternoon.
Interior Health said the death was linked to an Okanagan care home, Heritage Retirement Residence in West Kelowna.
On Feb. 2, Interior Health declared an outbreak over at Heritage Retirement residence. At the time, fourth deaths and 46 cases were linked to the retirement home.
The latest death comes just days ahead of the one-year mark from when the pandemic was first detected in the region.
“On Valentine’s Day this weekend, the Interior will mark the one year anniversary of its first confirmed case of COVID-19,” said Susan Brown, president and CEO of Interior Health.
“It was Feb. 14, 2020, that we saw COVID reach our region after seeing it spread around the world, country and province. After a year of responding to this challenging pandemic, sadly we continue to experience its impact.
“Today, we are reporting another person from long-term care has passed away due to COVID-19. We send our condolences to the loved ones and caregivers during this difficult time.
“For Valentine’s Day and Family Day this weekend, please do your part to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.
“Refrain from gathering, follow public health guidance and connect with loved ones, virtually.”
Currently, the number of deaths linked to coronavirus throughout the Interior Health region is listed at 84.
Data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control also listed the number of active cases throughout Interior Health at 880.
Interior Health announced a spot of good news in declaring that the Big White community cluster grew by just one case since its last report on Feb. 5.
The cluster was first announced on Dec. 15 with 60 cases and the number of cases quickly grew. Lately, though, the number of cases has dramatically dropped.
To date, 236 people have tested positive for COVID-19, with 226 having recovered.
There are 10 active cases, with 149 cases having resided or worked at Big White.
Elsewhere, no new cases were reported in the ski resort town of Fernie.
That community cluster is currently at 97 cases since Jan. 1, with two active cases and the remaining 95 having recovered.
Below are the updated outbreak numbers for long-term care homes in the Okanagan.
- Sunnybank long-term care in Oliver: 38 cases (27 residents, 11 staff/other) with six deaths connected to this outbreak. There are eight active cases.
- Carrington Place in Vernon: 2 cases (1 resident, 1 staff). There is one active case.
- Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon: 40 cases (25 residents, 15 staff) with one death connected to this outbreak. There are two active cases.
- Heritage Square long-term care in Vernon: 70 cases (47 residents, 23 staff) with nine deaths connected to this outbreak. There are six active cases.
- Noric House long-term care in Vernon: 67 cases (39 residents, 28 staff) with 10 deaths connected to this outbreak. There are eight active cases.
Click here to view the B.C. Centre of Disease Control’s coronavirus statistics.
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