Coronavirus: 47 new cases for Interior Health, but no deaths

Health officials announced 47 new cases of COVID-19 for the Interior Health region on Wednesday, but, more importantly, no deaths.

The region recorded four deaths during the Family Day long weekend, which pushed the area’s death total to 88 since the pandemic began.

Including Wednesday’s statistics, the total number of confirmed cases for the Southern Interior rose to 7,055, though 6,241 have recovered.

Additional data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control says there are 723 active cases, along with 27 people in hospital, 11 of which are in critical care.

Below is a list of case totals by age group.

• 90-plus: 108
• 80-89: 232
• 70-79: 409
• 60-69: 673
• 50-59: 888
• 40-49: 1,029
• 30-39: 1,082
• 20-29: 1,649
• 10-19: 723
• Under 10: 253

In related news, Interior Health has declared an outbreak as being over at a South Okanagan care home.

Six deaths and 38 cases involving 27 residents, 10 staff and one essential visitor were linked to Sunnybank Centre in Oliver.

An outbreak is declared over when two incubation periods, or 28 days, have passed from the last onset of symptoms in a resident.

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“I’m happy we are able to declare another COVID-19 outbreak over,” said Dr. Albert de Villiers, IH chief medical health officer.

“As COVID-19 vaccination continues to roll-out, we will be able to protect more of our most vulnerable members of our communities and prevent ongoing outbreaks in the future.”

“I want to thank the staff and administrators for their dedication during this challenging outbreak and for everything they did to bring it to a close,” added Susan Brown, Interior Health president and CEO.

“The Oliver community has been hit hard by COVID-19 outbreaks and on behalf of everyone at Interior Health, I extend our condolences to the families of the loved ones of those who passed away during the outbreak.”

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Below are the updated outbreak numbers for long-term care homes in the Okanagan.

Carrington Place in Vernon: 2 cases (1 resident, 1 staff).

Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon: 40 cases (25 residents, 15 staff) with one death connected to this outbreak.

Noric House long-term care in Vernon: 67 cases (39 residents, 28 staff) with 10 deaths connected to this outbreak.

To view the B.C. Centre of Disease Control’s coronavirus statistics, click here.

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