Luxury spa resort in Vernon, B.C., temporarily closed due to COVID-19

A luxury spa resort in Vernon, B.C., has been forced to temporarily close its doors, once again, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sparkling Hill Resort said in a statement posted to its website that two staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

“The two cases are not related and do not appear to have been contracted at the resort,” the resort said.

“However, the safety of all guests, team members, and the community is always our top priority, therefore, we have made the very difficult decision to close our doors for the next 10 days from July 26th to Aug. 4th, 2021.”

Visitors with questions are advised to contact the resort at +1 877-275-1556, or email reservations@sparklinghill.com.

Sparkling Hill also voluntarily closed in early November after a staff member tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus.

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The resort describes itself as a European health and wellness experience envisioned by Gernot Langes-Swarovski, patriarch of the Swarovski Crystal family.

Sparkling Hill is renowned as a leading destination spa resort for wellness travel in North America, its website says.

The Interior Health Authority (IHA), which includes the Okanagan region, has seen a resurgence of COVID-19.

The region continues to lead B.C. in the highest number of new cases and active cases.

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Over the past three days, 155 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Interior Health, bringing the B.C. Interior’s total to 342 active cases.

That compares to 185 active cases in Fraser Health, 118 active cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 14 active cases in Northern Health and 32 active cases in Island Health.

Interior Health has an approximate population of 800,000; Vancouver Coastal serves around 1.25 million, while Fraser Health serves 1.9 million.

Interior Health said since B.C. entered Stage 3 of its reopening phase on July 1:

• Around 70 per cent of the cases in Interior Health were in people who were not vaccinated
• 26 per cent of cases were in people who were partially immunized
• 4 per cent of the cases were in people who had received two doses.

Interior Health added that most of these cases are in adults between 20-39 years old, and, aside from a handful of clusters in rural communities, most cases are in the Central Okanagan.

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“Our immunization campaign has not wavered, even with the challenges our region is facing due to the various wildfires,” said Interior Health.

“COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to rise in all communities in Interior Health, and we are nearing 1 million doses across Interior Health. We do see some areas in IH with lower immunization rates than other areas and we are expanding our immunization program to make it easier for people to get vaccinated.”