The seasonal surge in new COVID infections which began in August continued to moderate over the past week both in Ontario and Canada-wide, following a late October peak which turned out to be less severe than last year’s.
This week’s composite chart shows that Ontario’s PCR testing positivity rate appears to have stabilized after having declined significantly in late November. Ontario COVID hospital admissions are also slightly lower. The seeming sharp drop in ICU bed occupancy is looking more like a statistical anomaly, especially given that this past week’s reporting was absent. The pandemic severity estimates by the independent statisticians at COVID-19 Resources Canada have dropped slightly in the past week, though they haven’t updated their estimate of one in every 41Ontarians being currently infected and hence infectious.
The latest US Centers for Disease Control review of COVID variants shows that the new XEC recombinant remains the dominant strain, with a 44% market share which will likely pass 50% within the next couple of weeks. Public Health Canada figures are slightly lower but following the same trend.