File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

COVID-19

Kamloops COVID-19 outbreaks stable; RIH down to ten active cases

Feb 18, 2021 | 3:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — Interior Health says the four COVID-19 outbreaks in Kamloops remain stable and are winding down.

In a Zoom conference with media Thursday afternoon (Feb. 18), Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Albert de Villiers reported only ten cases remain active at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH). The hospital has seen a total of 105 cases associated with its current outbreak.

De Villiers said vaccinations among staff have undoubtedly helped stem the case count.

“Wherever we do vaccinate, the cases go down,” he said. “There is some provincial data that I saw yesterday that’s not been published yet that definitely shows as soon as we start vaccinating, there are fewer outbreaks – there are fewer outbreaks in long-term care, there are fewer outbreaks in acute care.”

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Meantime, IH says having more staff recovered from the virus and out of self-isolation means operations are slowly returning to normal at RIH.

“As the case numbers come down, we know that we have far fewer staff who remain in isolation in relation to the outbreak,” said Interim Vice-President of Pandemic Response Karen Bloemink. “That, of course, has created some flexibility for us in relation to staffing.”

“We are still adjusting the way we’re scheduling into the [operating rooms] at Royal Inland, mainly just to ensure that we are not impacting our inpatient occupancy until we’re quite satisfied that it’s okay for us to do that,” she said. “We do continue to postpone some inpatient surgeries and exchange the scheduling for day-care surgeries.”

At Gemstone Care Centre in Brocklehurst, seven of the 32 cases remain active. The Westsyde Care Residence has nine of its 30 cases still active. The most recent outbreak at Highridge Home and Singh House has five cases active among its 13 total.