COVID numbers on a discouraging upward trend in Durham Region
Published August 16, 2023 at 3:42 pm
It’s not time to worry just yet but COVID-19 numbers are once again on the rise, with new cases more than triple what they were two weeks ago, with four of the six key indicators up from last week, in some cases significantly.
New cases for the Aug. 5-12 period are up to 51, from 30 the week before and just 15 in the previous reporting period. As well, the weekly incidence rate (per 100,000) was 2.0 two weeks ago. Last week it climbed to 4.1. Now it’s at 7.0.
The per cent positivity rate is even more alarming, jumping to 14.0 per cent from last week’s number of 4.6 per cent.
Hospital case numbers are also up in a big way, jumping to 13 from just five.
The only number down is outbreaks at local hospitals, long term care homes and retirement centres, which dropped from three to two. The number of deaths from the virus remained at zero.
Canadian Press is also reporting that new data from the Public Health Agency of Canada confirms that COVID-19 infections may be slowly starting to rise again in Canada.
The agency says there are signs of continued fluctuations in some COVID-19 activity indicators after a long period of gradual decline, noting this may be an early sign of increases, although the overall COVID-19 activity is still low to moderate across the provinces and territories.
The XBB family, an offshoot of Omicron, is the dominant strain in Canada right now and it is hoped a new batch of vaccines coming this fall are suited to combat it.
XBB Omicron variant