Interior Health (IH) is reporting 290 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths over the New Year’s long weekend.
The numbers, announced Jan. 4, are from four reporting periods. Broken down by day, there were 107 cases reported Jan. 1, 71 on Jan. 2, 52 on Jan. 3 and 60 on Jan. 4.
A total of 767 cases in the region remain active. Thirty-nine people are in hospital, six of whom are in intensive care.
Of the four deaths, two happened in the community or in hospital, while the other two came from long-term care home outbreaks in the Okanagan — one at McKinney Place in Oliver, bringing the death toll in that outbreak to 13; and the first death at Heritage Square long-term care in Vernon.
“We know this is especially hard for the families and caregivers and I want to offer our condolences during this difficult time,” said Susan Brown, president and CEO of IH.
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IH has provided a breakdown of case counts in each outbreak in the region:
- Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon has four cases: two residents and two staff.
- Williams Lake Seniors Village has two cases: one resident and one staff.
- Noric House long-term care in Vernon has nine cases: eight residents and one staff.
- Heritage Square long-term care in Vernon has 30 cases: 20 residents and 10 staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.
- Heritage Retirement Residence in West Kelowna has 40 cases: 35 residents and five staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.
- Teck mining operations remains at 16 IH cases linked to the outbreak.
- McKinney Place long-term care in Oliver remains at 75 cases: 54 residents and 21 staff, with 13 deaths connected to this outbreak.
- Village by the Station long-term care in Penticton has nine cases: five residents and four staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.
- Mountainview Village long-term care in Kelowna remains at 16 cases: eight residents and eight staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.
An update on the Big White Mountain COVID-19 cluster is expected to be released tomorrow. The health authority’s last update on that cluster, provided Dec. 29, noted 111 cases tied to Big White.
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
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