With B.C. moving from monthly to weekly public COVID-19 reports, numbers in the North Okanagan-Shuswap are rising, with one exception.
Starting with data from the week of Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) began providing weekly updates for Local Health Areas in the region, with the data provided by Interior Health.
The Vernon health area, with the largest population, has the largest numbers.
As of Dec. 12, combining the monthly report with two weekly updates, cases in Vernon totalled 142.
Of that total, 85 were reported in the period from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2020, 21 new cases were reported from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 and 36 more came in the week from Dec. 6 to 12.
Enderby was on the other end of the scale, with no cases reported in the most recent week, and just one the week before, making a total of 13 since Jan. 1. The Enderby health area includes Grindrod, Mara and Kingfisher.
Read more: One death, 91 new COVID-19 cases in Interior Health
Read more: Five cases of COVID-19 now confirmed at Salmon Arm independent living complex
Read more: B.C. records 640 new COVID-19 cases, 24 deaths Wednesday
A spokesperson for the BCCDC was quick to point out that the numbers are from a live database, so adding the weekly updates to the 11-month total will not give a precise count of total numbers. They explained that cases with missing address information or those from out of province aren’t mapped.
One example of a discrepancy would be if a case was reported on Nov. 19, but no address was provided. That case would not be mapped until the address was located, perhaps in January 2021. (The update map for Dec. 6 to 12 notes that two cases from Interior Health were missing address information so weren’t included in the map.)
Nevertheless, cases are not counted twice, so the numbers provide a close indication of where a Local Health Area stands.
The Salmon Arm health area, which includes Sicamous, Malakwa, Sorrento, Tappen and Falkland, registered a total of 38 reported cases as of Dec. 12. Twenty-two cases were reported from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, with five more from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, and 11 more from Dec. 6 to 12.
In Salmon Arm, the only cases publicized by Interior Health so far were a Walmart employee who tested positive for COVID-19 in April 2020 and a student at Salmon Arm Secondary’s Sullivan campus who caught the virus in November. The health authority is also involved with ongoing cases at Lakeside Manor, an independent living complex.
Revelstoke registered a total of 57 as of Dec. 12, with most due to a cluster from travellers coming to the community for recreation. The total from January through November was 49, with seven reported cases from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 and just one from Dec. 6 to 12.
The Armstrong-Spallumcheen Health Area registered a total of 18 cases to Dec. 12, with 13 for January through November, one for the week of Nov. 19, and four more reported from Dec. 6 to 12.
New graphs are available from the BCCDC Comparisons App showing how each health authority is doing in terms of positive test rates by month.
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Numbers of C0VID-19 reported cases continue to rise in the Shuswap and North Okanagan, according to this map provided by the BC Centre for Disease Control showing the new cases generated from Dec. 6 to 12 in the Local Health Areas. (BCCDC image)
