Grand Forks, West Boundary COVID-free up to June 19, says BC CDC

Grand Forks and the West Boundary saw no cases of COVID-19 over the week of June 13-19, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

The centre’s latest numbers, released Wednesday, June 23, came nearly two weeks after Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry declared Grand Forks a COVID ‘hot spot’ in B.C.

READ MORE: Grand Forks a COVID ‘hot spot’ in B.C., says PHO Henry

EDITORIAL: We were a ‘hot spot,’ now let’s move on

The Interior Health Authority (IH) meanwhile staged pop-up vaccine clinics in Grand Forks, Christina Lake and Rock Creek, jabbing a total of 650 people between June 18 and June 21, a health authority spokesperson told The Gazette.

Residents over 12 were offered the Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines on a first-come-first-served basis, with priority given to those who’d not yet had their first dose. Second doses were given to those who’d had their first shots at least two months prior, the spokesperson added.

Waiting at the Grand Forks clinic at City Park, Christina Lake’s Peter Boisvert was looking forward to his second dose on Saturday, June 19. “Freedom is what I call it,” he told The Gazette.

Seventy-eight per cent of over-50’s in the Grand Forks local health area (LHA) have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of June 21, according to the BCCDC’s website. That number drops to 69 per cent for over-18s and 67 per cent of over-12s.

Vaccination rates are lower across the Kettle Valley LHA, where 69 per cent of over-50’s, 62 per cent of over-18s and 60 per cent of over 12s have had at least one dose in the same period.

@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca
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