February is off to a good start in Golden, with no new cases of COVID being reported for the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, according to the BC CDC.
It’s the first week with no new cases in the area since Christmas, during the week of Dec. 20 through Dec. 26.
Despite the good news, the Physicians of Golden have cautioned in many of their updates on Facebook that Golden will most likely continue to see an ebb and flow in new cases, as COVID numbers hold steady across the province.
In fact, the last time zero cases were reported was immediately followed up by a peak in cases in the area, with the week of Dec. 27 through Jan. 2 seeing 14 new cases in Golden and area, the most reported in a given week since the BC CDC started releasing their weekly updates back in November.
“The number of cases is still really high and the risk of spread remains high as well,” read the Feb. 8 update from the physicians.
“Consider that at the peak of the first wave in the spring of 2020, the number of new daily cases was less than 100 in BC. At the peak of this second wave cases were just under 1000. We have become comfortable seeing numbers that are 10X the ones that frightened us last spring!”
READ MORE: Golden registers only one new COVID case between Jan. 24-30
READ MORE: BC CDC updates monthly data for Golden
The reported cases are organized based on permanent addresses and only accounts for those who are currently living in Golden and area and does not demonstrate positive cases that may be in the community with addresses elsewhere.
Through the Kootenays and the Columbia Valley, similar communities are seeing a decrease in cases, notably with Fernie seeing only one new case to start February. On Feb. 9, Interior Health confirmed that there were no new cases of COVID-19 linked to the Fernie cluster since Feb. 5.
Since initially reporting the Fernie cluster, 97 people have tested positive, with 94 recoveries to date.
Kimberley, Cranbrook and Windermere region all reported one case as well.
Revelstoke remains a hot-spot, with 19 new cases, maintaining a high rate of infection at >20 per population of 100,000.
