COVID-19 cases continue to fall across the Okanagan

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Central Okanagan fell to its lowest point since August this week.

According to the BC Centre for Disease Control report on case numbers by local health area, the Central Okanagan had 223 cases in the week spanning Sept. 26 and Oct. 2, which is an average of 32 a day.

A week earlier there were  278 cases diagnosed. Both are much lower than the first week of September when there were 478 cases diagnosed.

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Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton have moved out of the hot zone, as defined by the BCCDC, which is more than 20 cases per 100,000 population, and into the more manageable territory of five to 10 cases per week.

Penticton reported just 20 new cases from Sept. 26 to Oct. 3, down from 69 a week earlier and 53 the week before that.

Vernon, however, saw a few more cases, with the BCCDC reporting 64 cases from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, compared to 56 cases a week earlier.  A month ago it had reported as many as 165 cases in a week.

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“We are starting to bend our curve downwards for this fourth wave, and we are now seeing a slight decrease in the Interior Health region,” interim chief medical health officer Dr. Sue Pollock told Interior Health board members during a virtual meeting Wednesday night.

Vaccination rates around the Okanagan are on the rise, which may be contributing to lower case counts.

On Tuesday, the BC Centre for Disease Control released another week of data on vaccination rates, showing that while the Central Okanagan overall had 85 per cent of residents aged 12 and older with at least one vaccine dose as of Sept. 30, a number of neighbourhoods were nearing the 90 per cent mark.

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Leading the race to total vaccination is Glenmore, where 89 per cent of residents age 12 and older have had at least one shot.

Not far off, Okanagan Mission residents now report 88 per cent one-shot vaccination coverage and downtown Kelowna has 87 per cent coverage.

Central Okanagan rural, an area that includes Joe Rich and Peachland, is reporting that 79 per cent of eligible residents have had at least one shot and in Lake Country and Rutland, 81 per cent have had one shot.

— with files from Jules Knox