Year-end Review: Lobbied Provincial Government for Regional COVID-19 Data

Early in the data reporting process, the Provincial Health authority in British Columbia restricted information on new COVID-19 cases to only numbers associated with one of the five health regions. The Interior Health region is a significant geographical area and at that time officials were unwilling to provide city-level information to inform folks, living in Kootenay-Columbia, about infection levels and where COVID-19 was known to be present. My office made multiple requests of the Provincial government’s top health officials’ office to make this information available. I was pleased to see that they ultimately agreed with that assessment and made the city level information available via the BC CDC website. I commend all Kootenay-Columbians for their diligence in practicing social distancing and following recommendations from health officials. Your hard work is the reason why our area, to date, continues to be one of the least affected areas in the Province.

Regional data: www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data