Only one new case of COVID was reported in the Golden area during the week of Feb. 21 – 27.
That brings the total number of reported cases with permanent addresses in the area to tw0 for almost the entire month, excluding Feb. 28.
There were two weeks of no new cases, the first and third week of February.
Case counts in the Elk Valley continue to drop, with no new reported cases in the Windermere region (Invermere), Kimberley or Fernie.
Only four new cases were reported in the Cranbrook area, keeping their rate of infection at between 0.1 – 5 cases per population of 100,000.
Heading west across Rogers Pass, Revelstoke is also only reporting one new case in the last week.
Case counts continue to hover in the rate of 0-5 new cases in the last week throughout Interior Health, with some exceptions such as the Kamloops region and Merritt.
B.C. wide, the seven day rolling average for new cases and active cases are back on the rise, with over half of active cases being located in Fraser Health, according to the Physicians of Golden.
READ MORE: No new reported COVID cases in Golden area Feb 14-20
Over 300 case can now be traced back to one pub trivia night, with the Physicians emphasizing that it is not time to be complacent and to remain diligent.
“We absolutely must realize that it will still be months before we achieve widespread vaccination,” read the March 1 update from the Physicians.
“With the added risks of the variants of concern and incidences of increasing spread and outbreaks in some areas of BC we have a ways to go. Again, a reminder about continuing to use the protective tools- stick to your household, wash your hands, wear your mask and physically distance.
“If we can contain things, the coming late summer and fall will look very different and the end to the pandemic will be in reach.”
Phase 2 of vaccination is underway as well, with B.C. moving towards vaccinating as many people with the first dose of the vaccine, while pushing the second dose to a four month wait.
While the Physicians acknowledge that this is controversial, they say there’s data to back up it’s effectiveness, with the first dose of Pfizer and Moderna coming in at around 90 per cent.
In the UK, evidence shows that the lockdown measures coupled with their rapid vaccination has slowed the spread, even as variant cases continue to crop up.
The approval of the Astra Zenica and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, both of which are effective at a rate of 60-70 per cent, may additionally accelerate the vaccine timeline as well.
