A large-scale potential COVID-19 exposure incident spanning several days in British Columbia’s Interior, involving individuals from outside the region, has prompted a public notification.
Interior Health issued a news release today (July 10) to alert anyone who attended gatherings in Kelowna’s downtown and waterfront areas from June 25 to July 6 that they might have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Eight individuals who have been tested positive for COVID-19 had attended private gatherings and visited various businesses in Kelowna, including restaurants and bars, within that time frame.
In addition, health officials are especially concerned about Canada Day and holiday weekend events.
Interior Health stated that six of the infected individuals live outside of the Interior Health region, and CBC News reported that some of the individuals were from the Lower Mainland and Alberta.
Contact tracing is currently being conducted and public health team members will inform any known contacts to isolate for 14 days.
Due to the number of locations and cases involved, anyone who attended any events on those dates is asked to monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, cough, breathing problems, loss of sense of taste or smell, fatigue, body aches, runny nose, diarrhea, headaches, sore throat, red eyes, or vomiting.
Anyone who develops symptoms should immediately self-isolated and contact healthcare providers or Interior Health testing centres to arrange for testing.
Interior Health is working with other jurisdictions to determine what the source of the outbreak is.
Over this past week, new daily case counts in B.C. have steadily increased, from seven cases on July 6 to 25 cases today.
Recent public exposure incidents have taken place at three nightlife venues in Vancouver while cases have been confirmed at a McDonald’s in Surrey, a gym in Burnaby, and flights to and from Vancouver.
Although travel-related businesses have been reopening in B.C. as part of the province’s Phase 3 of its reopening plan, many communities remain concerned about the possibility of travellers bringing the coronavirus into their regions.
The Haida Nation is opposing the reopening of two luxury fishing lodges reopening without their consent, as they have stated that even one case of COVID-19 could be devastating to their communities due to limited healthcare services and only two ventilators available.
