After a long and nervous month at Royal Inland Hospital, Interior Health says the COVID-19 outbreak there is over.

There was one more death reported today taking the total to four deaths linked to the outbreak at the hospital in Kamloops. All of the deaths were among patients, according to Interior Health.

“I would like to send our condolences to the loved ones and caregivers of those who passed away, and our sincerest appreciation for the efforts made by the entire hospital community who worked tirelessly to contain the outbreak,” said Susan Brown, the president and CEO at Interior Health, in a statement.

There were two units at Royal Inland Hospital impacted by the outbreak which was first declared exactly one month ago on Jan. 22. The outbreak on unit 6 South was declared over earlier this month while the outbreak on 6 North – the designated COVID unit – was declared over today.

In all, there were 105 COVID-19 cases linked to the outbreak – 69 staff and 36 patients.

“I also want to thank the community whose efforts to prevent COVID-19 circulation help health care teams every day,” said Interior Health Chief Medical Health officer, Dr. Albert De Villiers. He also praised the work of hospital leaders and staff, as well as IH communicable disease specialists, who worked to contain the outbreak and maintain services at the hospital.

De Villiers adds all hospital staff were offered a vaccine dose not long after the outbreak was declared.

“We do have to remember as well that the vaccine takes about 12 to 14 days before it becomes effective. The other thing we do have to remember, is even though these are amazing vaccines with 90-to-95 per cent effectiveness, it is still only 90-95 per cent,” he said. “We do still expect that up to 10 per cent of people who actually had the vaccine might still get the disease.”

“However, the bottom line is, we are aware that wherever we did vaccinate, the cases go down… As soon as we started vaccinating, there were less outbreaks.”

And while Interior Health says the outbreak at RIH is over, it notes the virus is still in the community.

“It is essential that everyone continue to avoid social gatherings and limit socialization to their immediate household bubble, and follow public health guidelines to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” a statement said.

The outbreaks at three Kamloops care homes – Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre (32 cases and two deaths), Highridge House and Singh Home (13 cases), and the Westsyde Care Residences (30 cases and one death) – are still considered active.

There was also a COVID-19 outbreak declared today at Kelowna General Hospital, the other tertiary referral hospital in Interior Health.

– With files from Colton Davies