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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020 | Volume 33 No. 60
TODAY’S WEATHER Chance of showers High 6 C Low 0 C
REMEMBERING MR. SCIENCE
HELP KTW HELP OTHERS
Gordon Gore was founder of the Big Little Science Centre
Meet those behind the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism
PAGES A8, A16
PAGE A5
Provisional tax hike at 0.5 per cent JESSICA WALLACE STAFF REPORTER jessica@kamloopsthisweek.com
A POSITIVE TEST — NOW WHAT? MICHAEL POTESTIO
STAFF REPORTER
michael@kamloopsthisweek.com
W
ith the first known cases of COVID-19 being reported in a Kamloops school and long-term care home this week, Interior Health is explaining the steps taken when cases occur in these settings. A student or staff member at NorKam senior secondary and a care-aide at The Hamlets longterm care home and assisted-living facility in Westsyde each tested positive for COVID-19, with IH noting the school exposure occurred on Nov. 6. The care-aide has been off since Nov. 9. The health authority implemented additional infection control and preventive measures at The Hamlets, while at NorKam, close contacts of the infected per-
NEWS
son are being told to self-isolate. IH has been conducting contact tracing in both instances, which is where its protocols for addressing each type of institution begins. CONTACT TRACING Kamloops-based medical health officer Carol Fenton said laboratories will flag positive cases that arise in students or people who work at care homes and schools, leading to phone calls to the infected from public health. “We ask them a series of questions around when their symptoms started, what their symptoms were and, using that information, we determine the period [of time] they are infectious,” Fenton said. That period is defined as two days before to 10 days after symptoms began. Once that timeline is established, public health will determine every place that person has been and every individual he or she was
in contact with during those 12 days. “That’s the basic contact tracing process. That happens with all of our cases,” Fenton said. While there have been some delays in the process due to volume, test results and contact tracing investigations for health-care workers, students and school staff are given priority. When it comes to determining where a person contracted the virus, Fenton said due to the 14-day incubation period of COVID-19, it can be difficult to pinpoint. SCHOOLS If a student or staff member was at school during their infectious period, IH contacts the district, which can supply class layouts, timetables and class lists to determine who was possibly exposed. See TRACING, A11
An injection of provincial cash into city coffers will prevent significant service cuts in 2021, while taxpayers are facing a provisional tax rate increase of just less than a half a per cent, the lowest in recent memory. “I think this would be the lowest tax increase that we’ve experienced in over a decade,” Mayor Ken Christian said. “But we are facing some challenges that we have not seen in this decade, in fact, this century.” On Tuesday, city council participated in the first of many budget meetings, at which corporate services director Kathy Humphrey detailed $6.7 million the city is anticipating in COVID-19 Safe Restart funding to local governments. Humphrey told KTW the city found out about the provincial funding in early November. The city anticipated some sort of pandemic relief, but the amount and way in which it would be allotted was unknown, with Humphrey noting she anticipated grants on an application basis. Instead, the funding is a one-time cash injection distributed to municipalities based on a modified per capita basis, with the city’s understanding the money can be used as needed. Details are yet to come. Staff are proposing to use some of the funds to offset anticipated
revenue losses and added expenses in 2021 resulting from the pandemic and put the rest aside for yet unknown future needs. Christian said the funding is welcome and will act as a safety valve. “The impacts of COVID-19, we’re not done with them,” Christian said. “In fact, we may well be just seeing the beginning of what could be some significant impacts going into 2021, so I think leaving that cushion is a very prudent thing.” The city anticipates $2.8 million in lost revenues next year from recreation user fees, facility rentals, parking and more. In addition, it is facing $400,000 in added costs for increased maintenance to nature parks, safety equipment and facility and technology rental. The impact to property taxes from the total $3.2 million in lost revenues and added costs would be 2.7 per cent — which is about what the city’s annual tax increase has been in recent years. Prior to learning of the provincial money, the city had been mulling significant service cuts in 2021, including a reduction in hours at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, which is no longer being considered. “We were proposing service level reductions in all sorts of areas,” Humphrey told KTW, noting reduced hours in facilities, keeping arenas closed and reducing snow clearing. “Everything was on the table.” See COUNCIL, A6
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