Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

six south

Source of RIH COVID-19 outbreak under investigation by Interior Health

Jul 2, 2021 | 4:39 PM

KAMLOOPS — On Wednesday (June 30), Interior Health declared a COVID-19 outbreak was taking place at Royal Inland Hospital. The outbreak was reported in the surgical unit on Six South.

Six South remains closed for admissions. Patients who are being admitted post-surgery, are being placed on another floor for the time being. Initially, seven cases of the virus were confirmed.

Dr. Carol Fenton says there has been one additional case since Wednesday, bringing the total up to eight. The good news is that health officials say there’s no indication the infections are of a highly transmissible variant.

“There’s no indication that it’s Delta variant,” Dr. Fenton says. “We are, I believe, looking for other variants. We are also submitting for whole-genome sequencing so we can see whether or not the cases are linked to each other.”

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Last week, the hospital halted a policy that required patients to be tested for COVID-19 before being admitted to RIH. According to Dr. Fenton, the policy was discontinued due to low case counts of the coronavirus within the community.

“We have to weigh the risks and the benefits of those swabs,” Dr. Fenton says. “So when the rates of COVID circulating in the community are low, we get more false positives in the screening process. Those are usually from people who’ve had a previous infection, who have dead-virus still lingering. That creates delays in care and creates more work for us because those results are not true positives. We need to weigh the risks and benefits of that type of screening. This conversation is ongoing.”

While Interior Health continues to fight the outbreak at the hospital, there is good news on the vaccination front in the region. Dr. Fenton says 112,682 doses of vaccine have been administered – including 36,572 second doses. She also says the vaccine supply in the region is in good shape.

“Our limiting factor now is appointment times. So as soon as people are eligible for their second dose I encourage them to book an appointment and make sure not to miss that appointment, or that’s wasted space.”