Kamloops has seen 53 confirmed COVID cases to the end of July (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

COVID-19 MAP

Kamloops MLA feels new city-specific COVID numbers will help bring a more realistic picture to B.C. health crisis

Aug 28, 2020 | 4:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — When COVID-19 first hit B.C. in March, the message was assume it was in your own community. Despite calls for specific numbers for each municipality, Dr. Bonnie Henry’s strategy has been to localize them by health authority.

However, now the province will be communicating city-specific COVID-19 numbers every month. Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar says it’s the right move.

“Really it’s about saying, ‘Are we doing something well? Are we not doing something well?’ If you’re a city where you’re seeing spikes, hopefully it motivates people now to accurately dial things back and try to get their numbers under control,” Milobar told CFJC Today. “Likewise, those cities that are doing things well know they’re doing well and keep doing that.”

Milobar says with the COVID numbers not being such a mystery, people don’t have to fear the unknown. In Kamloops, there have been 53 confirmed cases up to the end of July. Milobar says the province should have been releasing city-specific numbers from the beginning of the pandemic.

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“I think we’ve been doing really well, but it was kind of that hidden number and sometimes what’s left up to people’s imagination is worse than the actually numbers,” he said. “So a lot of people are probably surprised it’s as low as 53 in Kamloops.”

CFJC Today went downtown to ask residents whether they thought the COVID numbers were higher or lower before the release of Thursday’s new COVID map.

“I got the sense it was much lower,” said Kamloops resident Susan Filyer-Mason. “I would’ve put it under 10.”

Another resident noted, “I thought it might be higher just with all the media attention that’s been on it.”

“I think 53 for the area seems not too bad,” said fellow resident Susan Nish.

COVID-19 numbers in B.C. to the end of July (Image Credit: BCCDC)

City councillor Mike O’Reilly warns the numbers don’t include the recent spike in August. Like many health officials, O’Reilly warns of a second wave in the fall and people in Kamloops need to keep being vigilant.

“We’re almost a month behind from the data they showed, so we need to be very aware that it is around us to practice social distancing and put a mask on when you’re not able to social distance, washing hands, getting back to the basics and making sure we’re doing the best we can that way,” said O’Reilly.

However, from what he’s seen, O’Reilly feels most Kamloops residents have been dealing well with COVID-19.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, people seem to be extremely respectful,” he said. “Not only that, but the businesses are really following through as well and asking their patrons to do certain things, and they’re trying to keep their customers as safe as possible.”

Like the overdose numbers in B.C., the Health Ministry says it plans to release COVID-19 in Kamloops and in other cities once a month moving forward.