COVID-19 cases double in Central Okanagan from week prior

A number of local health areas within the Interior Health region saw sharp increases in COVID-19 cases from the week prior.

According to data from the B.C. Centre of Disease Control (BC CDC), the Central Okanagan, Revelstoke, Merritt and Penticton subregions had significant spikes for the week of March 21-27.

The Central Okanagan had the largest jump, as it surged to 141 cases during that seven-day stretch – double the previous week’s total of 70, from March 14-20.

Penticton jumped to 19 cases from one, with Revelstoke rising to 18 from two. Merritt and the South Okanagan also showed rising case totals, as did Vernon and Salmon Arm (see below). Notably, though, the case totals for Kamloops dropped to 30 from 56.

One month ago, the BC CDC listed the Okanagan region as having just 69 cases. The region is comprised of Enderby, Armstrong, Vernon, the Central Okanagan, Princeton, Summerland, Penticton, Keremeos and South Okanagan.

However, since then, the case totals have steadily risen — to 125 cases from March 5-11 to 223 cases from March 24-30.

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Still, when compared to the Lower Mainland, the Interior numbers are low.

For example, from March 21-27, Langley had 198 cases; the Tri-Cities region had 325 cases, Vancouver had 1,012 cases and Surrey had 1,153 cases.

This week, provincial health officials asked B.C. residents to stay local during the Easter long weekend to help curb the spike in cases.

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“This is not the time for any of us to be travelling for leisure or vacation or getaways outside of our community,” said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. “Travel is still very high risk for all of us.

“So if you are in doubt at all this weekend, just don’t go. A good line and guideline is to think about staying within the area where you would go for a day trip. If it requires an overnight stay, a vacation rental, then it is not a good idea right now.

“If you need a break, go to a local campground, stay in a local hotel. Staying local will support our local businesses, and we all know how important that is right now with the restrictions that we’ve had to put in place this week to try and get our numbers down.

“Get take away from your local restaurant, support your local community.”

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Below are the weekly case totals for the Okanagan since late October:

• Oct. 30 to Nov. 12: 144 cases
• Nov. 13-26: 420 cases
• Nov. 20 to Dec. 3: 597 cases
• Dec. 4-10: 371 cases
• Dec. 11-17: 375 cases
• Dec. 18-24: 290 cases
• Dec. 25-31: 210 cases
• Jan. 1-7: 303 cases
• Jan. 8-14: 222 cases
• Jan. 15-21: 173 cases
• Jan. 22-28: 152 cases
• Jan. 29 to Feb. 4: 150 cases
• Feb. 5-11: 90 cases
• Feb. 12-18: 71
• Feb. 19-25: 75 cases
• Feb. 26 – March 4: 69 cases
• March 5-11: 125 cases
• March 12-18: 111 cases
• March 18-24: 154 cases
• March 24-30: 223 cases

Number of cases per major region, from Jan. 1, 2020, to March 30, 2021:

Note: Prior cases from Jan. 1, 2020, to March 24, 2021, in brackets

• Okanagan: 4,904 cases (4,712)
• Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap: 2,935 cases (2,842)
• East Kootenay: 457 cases (431)
• Kootenay Boundary: 249 cases (230)

Number of cases per major region from March 24-30, 2021:

Note: Prior cases from March 18-24 in brackets

• Okanagan: 223 cases (154)
• Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap: 104 cases (67)
• East Kootenay: 28 cases (7)
• Kootenay Boundary: 22 cases (9)

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Number of cases per subregion or local health authority, from January 2020, to February 2021:

Note: Prior cases from January 2020, to January 2021 in brackets:

• Central Okanagan: 2,959 (2,739)
• Kamloops: 1,246 (774)
• Vernon: 605 (554)
• Cariboo / Chilcotin: 459 (410)
• Penticton: 270 (257)
• South Okanagan: 251 (235)
• Salmon Arm: 243 (192)
• Revelstoke: 211 (163)
• Merritt: 191 (105)
• Fernie: 155 (155)
• 100 Mile House: 102 (97)
• Cranbrook: 83 (72)
• Nelson: 72 (72)
• Summerland: 65 (57)
• Kettle Valley: 63 (58)
• Golden: 60 (58)
• Enderby: 56 (53)
• Armstrong: 52 (47)
• Windermere: 34 (32)
• South Cariboo: 28 (24)
• Creston: 22 (23)
• Lillooet: 22 (22)
• Trail: 21 (19)
• Castlegar: 19 (18)
• Kimberley: 19 (14)
• Keremeos: 18 (17)
• Grand Forks: 13 (8)
• North Thompson: 9 (8)
• Kootenay Lake: 5 (5)
• Princeton: 5 (4)
• Arrow Lakes: 3 (3)

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Number of cases per subregion or local health authority, from March 21-27, 2021:

Note: Prior cases from March 14-20, 2021, in brackets

• Central Okanagan: 141 (70)
• Kamloops: 30 (56)
• Merritt: 22 (6)
• Vernon: 21 (18)
• Penticton: 19 (1)
• Revelstoke: 18 (2)
• South Okanagan: 14 (2)
• Salmon Arm: 10 (7)
• Fernie: 8 (3)
• Nelson: 7 (3)
• Trail: 6 (2)
• Enderby: 4 (1)
• Grand Forks: 3 (0)
• Windermere: 3 (2)
• 100 Mile House: 2 (0)
• Castlegar: 2 (0)
• Creston: 2 (0)
• Armstrong: 1 (1)
• Cariboo-Chilcotin: 1 (2)
• Kimberley: 1 (0)
• Arrow Lakes: 0 (0)
• Cranbrook: 0 (4
• Golden: 0 (0)
• Keremeos: 0 (2)
• Kettle Valley: 0 (0)
• Kootenay Lake: 0 (0)
• Lillooet: 0 (0)
• Princeton: 0 (0)
• North Thompson: 0 (0)
• South Cariboo: 0 (3)
• Summerland: 0 (0)

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