Record-setting Saturday brings IH over 1,000 active COVID-19 cases for the first time

| January 18, 2021 in BC Interior

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There were 253 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the BC Interior over the weekend.

That included a new daily high of 122 cases on Saturday, followed by 66 on Sunday and 65 over the past 24 hours.

It brings Interior Health to 5,313 total cases since the start of the pandemic, with 1,058 cases currently active.

It’s the first time the BC Interior has gone over 1,000 active cases.

Unfortunately, there were another four deaths due to COVID-19 over the weekend, two at Noric House in Vernon and one each at Sunnybank in Oliver and Heritage Retirement Residence in West Kelowna.

"I offer our condolences to the families, caregivers and loved ones of these four people who all passed in long-term care," said Susan Brown, IH president and CEO. 

"We are in our most challenging period of this pandemic but hope is on the horizon as we continue rolling out vaccines every day."

There are now 38 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the BC Interior and 10 of them are in intensive care.

The best news from over the weekend is that the six-week long outbreak at McKinney Place long-term care home in Oliver has now been declared over.

Of the 60 residents that reside at McKinney Place, 55 tested positive for the virus, along with 23 staff, and 17 of them died.

Here’s an update from IH on the rest of the current outbreaks in the region:

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