Interior Health has been experiencing B.C.sa国际传媒檚 highest daily COVID-19 case counts, even as numbers fall in other health authorities.
While data shows a steady decline in COVID-19 cases provincially, increasing daily case counts in the Interior Health region are causing the rolling seven-day average to climb, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.
From the end of June until approximately two weeks ago the rolling seven-day average had plateaued. But that average has since risen following a recent trend of higher daily case counts.
That point was punctuated by the weekend case counts sa国际传媒� provincially, a total of 267 over three days, but over half of those cases came from Interior Health sa国际传媒� the most of all health authorities sa国际传媒� at 155.
As of Tuesday, July 27, Interior Health also has the highest active case count at 415.
In spite of the rising case counts, the province has reached some vaccination milestones sa国际传媒� 80 per cent of those eligible have received a first dose, while over 60 per cent are fully vaccinated.
However, there are pockets around B.C. where vaccine uptake is not reflected in the provincial statistics, and can vary by age range.
In the 18-49 age range, vaccination rates of first doses in a few local health areas in the Interior Health region are below or just above 50 per cent. According to the BC CDCsa国际传媒檚 latest data in that age range, Creston is at 45 per cent, Grand Forks is at 55 per cent, and Vernon is at 60 per cent.
Dr. Bonnie Henry addressed lower vaccination rates in rural areas during an immunization update on Tuesday, during an event that also kicked off a new sa国际传媒榁ax for BCsa国际传媒� campaign.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 a different challenge, both in the Interior and the North, where there are many smaller communities that are quite physically distant from each other, where there are pockets of people who have not had access to vaccine, where wesa国际传媒檝e had challenges like wildfires and smoke and many other things going on,sa国际传媒� she said.
sa国际传媒淪o partly there are some pockets of people who are hesitant about the vaccine, donsa国际传媒檛 yet have confidence in the vaccine and wesa国际传媒檝e seen that in health care workers and in some communities across both the Interior and the North and part of it having the resources and access to vaccine.
sa国际传媒淪o thatsa国际传媒檚 what wesa国际传媒檙e going to be focusing on, particularly in the next couple of weeks, is making sure we can get out there to a community, to every community, to answer those questions and to make it convenient for people to get their vaccine.sa国际传媒�
Officials provided an update on the provincesa国际传媒檚 vaccination efforts on Tuesday, July 27, during the sa国际传媒榁ax for BCsa国际传媒� launch sa国际传媒� a new campaign encouraging as many eligible people as possible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
It will include community events, vax vans and mobile clinics, as well as a province-wide sa国际传媒榃alk-in Wednesdaysa国际传媒� event on Aug. 4, where clinics will co-ordinate 20,000 doses for walk-in vaccinations for anyone 12 years of age and older.
British Columbia has just under one million residents unvaccinated sa国际传媒� Fraser Health has the most at 315,748, with Interior Health coming up with the second-most at 199,159 (data as of July 23).
Henry emphasized the effectiveness of being vaccinated through a snapshot of COVID-19 outcomes in a month-long period between June 15 to July 15, noting that 78 per cent of people hospitalized were unvaccinated, and less than five per cent of COVID-19 cases were among fully vaccinated people.
sa国际传媒淭his is why it is extremely important that we all get both doses of vaccine and now is the time to do that, not only to protect ourselves, but to protect the ones around us,sa国际传媒� she said.
