Dr. Carol Fenton (Image Credit: CFJC Today/File Photo)

By Amandalina Letterio

COVID-19

Amid pandemic progress, Interior Health reminds residents to stay vigilant

Feb 4, 2022 | 4:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Interior Health is looking the COVID-19 data to determine if the Interior region is over the Omicron peak. According to Medical Health Officer Dr. Carol Fenton with Interior Health, we’re not over it yet.

“What I can tell you for sure is that we’re seeing really high levels of COVID activity. We’re seeing a ton of infections, we’re seeing a lot of workplace disruptions, we’re seeing a lot of outbreaks in longterm care,” Fenton said.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant has made it difficult for health authorities to track new COVID-19 cases through testing.

Dr. Fenton says she’s been looking at wastewater data. The Interior region is unable to test wastewater for COVID-19, so Fenton has been checking nearby communities.

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She’s looking at wastewater graphs of Lower Mainland cities where the virus has peaked.

Vancouver, Richmond and North Shore have all past their peak, according to the data.

Fenton says it’s a reliable signal that progress is being made.

Similar patterns can be seen on graphs of Calgary’s wastewater.

While we haven’t yet reached that point in the Interior, Dr. Fenton says the region appears to be moving in the right direction.

“The hospitalizations and deaths is an indicator of severity, and what we are seeing is sort of a ‘decoupling’ of the number of cases with the hospitalizations and deaths. That’s a really good indicator to me that the vaccine is working really well,” she said.

With the slight improvements, Dr. Fenton is reminding the public to keep practicing COVID-19 safety protocols so that we can start to see more progress.