Interior Health identifies 3 communities as high COVID-19 transmission areas | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
Subscribe

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

Current Conditions Clear  2.6°C

Kelowna News

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

FILE PHOTO

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.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2021
iNFOnews

  • Popular kelowna News
View Site in: Desktop | Mobile