New COVID cases down for fifth straight week

Levels back to mid-July rates just before the Delta variant surge began

New cases of COVID-19 infections in greater Kelowna have declined for the fifth week in a row.

An average of 36 people a day tested positive for the disease last week, down from 51 the week before, and well below the peak daily infection rate of 131 set in mid-August.

The spread of COVID-19 is now back to levels last experienced in mid-July, before a dramatic runup in cases triggered the reimposition of several pandemic-related protocols, such as indoor mask wearing in public spaces, which were then unique to the Central Okanagan.

New cases of COVID-19 also dropped in Vernon, to 112 last week from 165 the week before. Week-over-week new case counts also declined in Kamloops, from 270 to 158.

But the infection rate was level in Penticton, Armstrong-Spallumcheen, and Enderby, and there was a slight increase in cases in the South Okanagan.

The spread of COVID-19 in Kelowna has varied considerably through the course of the pandemic, which started in early 2020. Last year, peak transmission was in late November and early December, when an average of 50 people a day were testing positive for the disease.

New cases fell significantly in the late winter and early spring, coincident with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines.

In mid-February, only five people a day were testing positive in greater Kelowna. By late June and early July, the new infection rate was only seven a day.

But then the number of new cases began to soar, peaking in mid-August at 131 new infections every day.

New infections have declined every week since then, but the number of cases reported last week in greater Kelowna, at 257, was still second highest in B.C., behind only Surrey with 291 new cases.