Number of new COVID cases in Interior Health flattening out but still high

There were 242 new cases of COVID-19 cases recorded in the Interior Health region in the past 24 hours, according to a Ministry of Health news release issued today, Aug. 31.

That’s within what has become the new normal range for the region.

Similarly, the 655 new cases in the province as whole are within the new normal range for B.C.

READ MORE: At least another 6 weeks of COVID restrictions in B.C.: health officials

There were 186 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 99 in Vancouver Coastal, 68 on Vancouver Island and 60 in the Northern Health region.

There has been one new health care facility outbreak at Kamloops Senior Village.

Of 6,045 active cases in B.C., 2,495 (41.3 per cent) are in the Interior Health region. There are 187 people in B.C. hospitals, including 103 in intensive care.

Two more people have died of COVID, both on Vancouver Island, bringing the provincial total to 1,816.

The vaccination rate for people 12 and older is at 84.3 per cent with 76.5 per cent having received their second dose.

From Aug. 16-29, 80.2 per cent of new cases and 88.7 per cent of hospitalizations were people who were not fully vaccinated.

From Aug. 23-29, 4,698 people tested positive for COVID of whom 3,285 (69.9 per cent) were not vaccinated at all, 485 (10.3 per cent) were partially vaccinated and 928 people (19.8 per cent) were fully vaccinated.

READ MORE: Latest COVID vaccination data shows Interior Health lags far behind rest of B.C.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics