Smaller communities leading the explosion of COVID cases in Interior Health

In the last week the number of COVID cases in the Interior Health region has increased by almost 2.5 times what they were the week before.

In the past such explosive growth was usually focused on the Central Okanagan but this current wave seems to be hitting smaller cities like Penticton, Princeton, Nelson and Creston hardest.

In the week from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 there were 2,560 new cases of COVID in the Interior Health region which 2.47 times as many as the 1,039 recorded the week before.

While the Central Okanagan, which has the biggest population base in the region, had 625 of the new cases, that’s only 2.34 times what it had the week before.

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Kamloops was up by 1.72 times to 261 and Vernon was up 2.32 times to 181.

Penticton’s case count, on the other hand, was up 5.41 times what it was the week before to 211.

The increase was most dramatic in Nelson that saw its case count increase by 23 times. But the numbers are smaller. It went to 69 cases from only three the week before.

Princeton went to 20 from one, a twenty-fold increase and Creston jumped to 29 from three the week before.

The town of Revelstoke, which stood out last week with 142 cases, didn’t even double its case count this week. Still, it had 257 cases, just four fewer than the much larger city of Kamloops.

READ MORE: Revelstoke records more than 10% of COVID cases in Interior Health in week leading up to Christmas

Cases in Trail jumped to 121 from 26 and Fernie recorded 211 cases this week compared to 39 the week before.

As of yesterday, Jan. 5, there have been 39,972 Interior Health residents who have tested positive for COVID since the start of the pandemic and 299 people have died.

Currently there are 2,563 active cases in the region with 37 people in hospital, 22 of whom are in intensive care.

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