Massive surge of new COVID cases in Durham with 190 reported over the weekend, including 59 in Oshawa

Neither the Fourth Wave nor the new Omicron variant are going away, and the numbers are bearing that out with 190 new cases of the virus reported in Durham over the past three days.

There were 66 new cases reported Friday, 57 on Saturday and 67 Sunday. The active case count has seen a massive uptick to 431 and the only bright spot is the vast majority of those affected are able to self-isolate at home. There are just three people in hospital and zero cases now in ICU.

Oshawa has taken over as the hotspot of the region with 21, 17 and 21 cases over the weekend, though Whitby (10, 14, 19) is not far behind. Scugog was the only community with a perfect COVID-free weekend.

There are just two residents isolating at Sunnycrest Nursery Home in Whitby, but workplace outbreaks continue to climb with eight now ongoing. Three are in transportation, two in retail and one each in corporate, construction and manufacturing.

There are eight schools and day cares reporting outbreaks, with Father Fenelon Catholic School in Pickering reporting six students isolating and Happy Tots Nursery in Oshawa reporting four children who have tested positive for the virus.

There is just one student at the closed-to-in-person-learning EE Corpus Christi in Oshawa, with 36 cases resolved. Ajax High remains closed due to a school-wide outbreak as well. The school is not scheduled to re-open until the new year.