High COVID case counts continue in Interior Health with 252 new infections

Despite new mask and social gathering restrictions being in place for the Interior Health region for more than two weeks, the pace of new COVID-19 infections has not slowed.

Back on Aug. 6 when those rules were imposed, a record 275 cases were recorded in the Interior Health region. While daily numbers fluctuate, they have not varied much from that total, on average.

That’s continuing this week with 273 new cases recorded yesterday, Aug. 24, and another 252 today.

READ MORE: Bars and nightclubs hardest hit by new COVID restrictions in the Central Okanagan

B.C., as a whole saw 698 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to a Ministry of Health news release issued today, Aug. 25.

That, too, is not far off the average daily totals and triggered a public heath order requiring mask wearing in all indoor spaces in B.C. as of today.

READ MORE: Masks required for all indoor public spaces in B.C. starting tomorrow

Of the new cases, 203 were in the Fraser Health region, 129 in Vancouver Coastal, 69 on Vancouver Island and 45 in the Northern Health region.

There are 5,356 active cases with 139 people in hospital, 75 of whom are in intensive care. There are 1,911 active cases in the Interior Health region.

The immunization rate has climbed to 83.5 per cent for people 12 and older, 75.4 per cent of which are second doses.

There have been two new health care facility outbreaks including one in Interior Health at Spring Valley Care Centre in Kelowna.

From Aug. 10 to 23, 83.3 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases and 85 per cent of hospitalizations have been in people who are not fully vaccinated.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, 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.