COVID-19 outbreak at Kelowna General Hospital

• Six COVID cases in total
• Unit closed to new admissions

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Kelowna General Hospital.

The outbreak was posted on Interior Health’s (IH) facility outbreak page Tuesday.

It affects Unit 3W, which IH says handles general and thoracic surgery.

In a statement to Kelowna10 early Wednesday afternoon, IH said there are six cases: three patients and three staff. Additional infection control measures have been implemented including closing the unit to new admissions, restricting non-essential visitors, and testing patients and staff.

Earlier this week Kelowna10 asked IH for details regarding staffing shortages at KGH due to COVID-related illness. It is awaiting that information.

On Monday, Minister of Health Adrian Dix said nearly 28,000 provincewide healthcare worker shifts had been impacted by illness between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9. Of those, 4,713 were in Interior Health. No specifics have been released regarding the total number of employees who have been sidelined by illness nor what percentage were COVID-related.

Earlier this month, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said up to a third of all employees could be expected to be off work due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19.

In addition to the KGH outbreak, there are currently four others in Kelowna, all at long-term care facilities.

An outbreak was declared at Lakeview Lodge on Jan. 11, Sun Pointe Village Jan. 7, Spring Valley Care Dec. 31, and David Lloyd Jones on Dec. 27.

COVID numbers for Wednesday

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) is reporting 2,612 new cases of COVID-19 in the province. There were 507 new cases reported in Interior Health (IH), a 216 increase from the day before.

There were 42 people in hospital in IH, seven fewer than on Tuesday and 19 of those were in critical care, a decrease of four.