Kelowna

COVID case rates dropping in Rutland, most of Okanagan

Local cases still dropping

Nicholas Johansen - Jun 16, 2021 / 2:43 pm | Story: 337231

Photo: BC CDC

New COVID-19 cases by Community Health Service Areas, identified between June 8 and 14.

New COVID-19 cases in the Okanagan, and in the rest of the B.C., continue to drop.

New community-level data recently released by the BC Centre for Disease Control shows the daily rate of infection across many Okanagan communities decreased last week.

The daily rate in Rutland, where cases have remained high since Interior Health labelled the region a “high-transmission neighbourhood” last month, dropped by 33 per cent to eight daily infections per 100,000 people between June 8 and 14.

While the region once had one of the highest rates of infection in the province, cases there have steadily dropped in recent weeks.

While the Okanagan Mission area remains one of the better off communities in the Central Okanagan, with an average of just one daily infection per 100,000 people, the Central Okanagan Rural area saw its case rate rise to the highest in the province – to an average of 16 daily infections per 100,000 people.

But with a population of fewer than 9,000 people, that daily infection rate works out to about 10 new infections throughout the entire week.

The case rate dropped significantly in the Downtown Kelowna community health service area last week, down to an average of five daily infections per 100,000 people. The Glenmore area saw the case rate rise slightly to seven infections per 100,000 people.

All South Okanagan communities continue to keep infections low, but in the north, the Vernon Centre/Coldstream region posted an average rate of nine daily infections per 100,000 people.

The case rate remains low in the Kamloops region, but the rate rose significantly in the Merritt region last week, from zero to 10 daily cases per 100,000 people. With a population of fewer than 11,000 people, this rate works out to about seven new cases throughout the week.

The increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates across much of the Okanagan has slowed in the past week, with the highest rate of those 12 and older in the Interior coming from Kamloops Centre South – at 76 per cent – followed by the Okanagan Mission and Summerland at 74 per cent.

The lowest vaccination rate in the region remains in Enderby, where 55 per cent of those 12 and older have received a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

About 75 per cent of people 12 and older across B.C. have received at least one dose.

Daily infections per 100,000 people (June 8-14)