Between April 11 and 17, confirmed cases of COVID-19 were down on the Sunshine Coast for the first time since March, with five cases reported by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) over the seven-day period.
Weekly case counts had been in the low single-digits since late January but started climbing slightly in late February and reached 13 the week of April 4 – the highest single-week increase since the period of January 10 to 16.
In neighbouring Powell River, cases stayed higher last week, with 11 reported from April 11 to 17, though overall the region has had even lower numbers than the Sunshine Coast, with 62 cumulatively between January 2020 and March 2021, compared with the Coast’s 170 and 2,065 in Howe Sound, which includes the hard-hit municipality of Whistler.
The Sunshine Coast COVID Physician Task Force acknowledged in its latest community update on April 21 that “case numbers have not climbed like we are seeing elsewhere in the province.”
“This speaks to the effort that all of you are putting in,” the update said.
Vaccines, meanwhile, appear to be getting into a large portion of adult residents’ arms. As of April 21, 12,000 people have been vaccinated, nearly half the adult population of the Sunshine Coast. Another 2,000 people are expected to receive a dose next week.
The task force update also said they expect to announce more immunization clinics “in the near future” and are “working with Vancouver Coastal Health to advocate for the Coast to receive more vaccine doses as soon as possible.”
Immunization clinics will be held in Sechelt on April 27 and 28 and in Gibsons on April 29.
