Virus slowing but so are vaccinations

New cases of COVID-19 have declined every week so far this month in the Okanagan.

Updated data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows 173 Valley residents tested positive for the disease between Jan. 15-21.

That was down from 222 the week before, and 303 in the first week of January.

New weekly infections in the Okanagan have been trending down from the peak of 597 recorded in late November and early December. But the transmission rates in nearby Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap region, centred around Kamloops, are treading in the opposite direction, from 81 new infections in the last week of December to 336 from Jan. 15-21.

Across B.C., a total of 1,344 new cases were reported between Friday and Monday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said. Of the total, 234 cases were in the region served by Interior Health.

The numbers continued a downward trend in new cases seen over the past month.

However, Henry also announced there would be more delays in COVID-19 vaccine shipments to B.C.

“This weekend, unfortunately, we received additional information about hold-ups to the supply of the Pfizer vaccine that we were expecting to receive in the next few weeks,” Henry said.

“These next two weeks, we’re going to have very little vaccine,” she said. “As we knew, we are receiving no Pfizer vaccine this week and it is also a week where we do not receive any new Moderna vaccine.”

“On this weekend, we found out that the amounts that we were expecting to receive in the first week of February have been dramatically reduced. And, right now, we do not know how much if any vaccine we will be receiving the following two weeks in February,” Henry said.

“We know that the federal government is doing everything in their power to make sure that our vaccine supply gets back on track as soon as possible,” Henry said.

A total of 119,850 people in B.C. have received vaccine shots. The province has received 144,5000 vaccine doses.

To stretch out the current supply, Henry said, the necessary second vaccine shots will not be given until 42 days after the first inoculation.

“This means we can use what little supply we have right now to finish our long-term care immunizations and to address the outbreaks that are happening in our hospitals and our communities,” Henry said.

“This is about putting out fires before they get out of control,” she said. “It’s about choosing in the shortterm to give more people protection from dose one instead of giving some people full protection and leaving others with none.”

The most recent COVID-19 situation report, released last Friday, said there were 36% fewer new cases provincewide in the second week of January compared to early December.

“Provincially, in recent weeks, incidence decreased in all age groups, being highest in adults 20-29 years old (94 per 100,000 population) and lowest in 70-79 years old (24 per 100,000 population).

The first COVID-19 case in Canada was detected one year ago today. Since then and up until Jan. 16, just under 62,000 British Columbians had tested positive for COVID-19, and there had been 1,075 fatalities.

One-third of those who died were over 90, and almost three-quarters were over 80.

Nobody under 30 has died of COVID-19 in B.C. Three per cent of all deaths have been of people aged 59 or younger, though this age group accounts for three-quarters of all British Columbians.