Local COVID-19 cases climbing

The Vernon health area is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases.

The area had seen just seven cases recorded each of the last three weeks, but the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) data shows that, between Aug. 7–13, 12 cases were confirmed in the area.

The increase in local cases goes against what is being reported in the Interior and in B.C. as a whole.

The BCCDC’s report stated that there were 182 confirmed cases in the Interior and 877 in all of B.C. in the latest reporting week. Those are down slightly from the 183 in the Interior and 899 in B.C. confirmed the week prior.

To date, there have been 381,049 cases of the virus confirmed in B.C. Those include 67,763 from the Interior, 5,629 of which were from the Vernon health area.

The report noted that there were 181 British Columbians admitted to hospital in the latest week, including 33 people in the Interior. Those are down from the 226 total hospitalizations and 43 in the Interior the week prior.

The number of patients admitted to intensive care in B.C. was 29 in the latest week, down from 39 the week before, though the Interior had six ICU admissions, up from two the week prior.

There were a total of 24 British Columbians who lost their lives due to the virus in the latest week, including eight from the Interior.

Again the death toll was down week to week for B.C., as there were 40 the previous week, but the Interior did see an increase from the seven deaths recorded between July 31 and Aug. 6.

To date, 4,037 British Columbians have died due to COVID-19, including 581 people from the Interior.

The BCCDC does not provide hospitalization or death data for individual health areas.