Interior Health identifies 3 communities as high COVID-19 transmission areas

People living in three Interior Health region neighbourhoods will have greater access to the AstraZeneca vaccines.

Golden and Summerland have been identified as high transmission communities, along with the Rutland neighbourhood of Kelowna.

“When we looked at the data it looked like Rutland had one of the lowest immunization rates in the region and they also had one of the highest infection rates in the region,” Interior Health region’s chief medical health officer Dr. Albert de Villiers said in a news briefing today, May 7. “Something that did play into it as well, Spring Valley long term, that’s also in in Rutland.”

There are now 33 cases of COVID associated with the Spring Valley Care Centre, including 23 residents and 10 staff.

There have been three deaths at that facility but Dr. de Villiers said that many long-term care deaths are actually from other causes, such as cancer. They are listed as COVID deaths if the resident tested positive for COVID even if they have no symptoms.

Golden and Summerland also showed high rates of infection, he said.

Extra vaccination clinics will be held so all people over the age of 30 living in these three communities can register and get vaccinated based on their ages.

More information on getting immunized is available here.

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