The most recent published official data on COVID infections mostly confirm our impression of last week that the unexpected rise in new COVID infections following an unusually small holiday-season rise had run its course.
Our Canada-wide graph of municipal wastewater COVID viral counts appears to be finally showing a definitive drop after a fairly consistent rise over the past year, albeit still at a level roughly double that of last year at this time. Ontario PCR test positivity rates for seniors and seniors and health-care workers who still qualify for definitive testing have mostly flattened, but are still at something like 50% higher than 12 months ago. Ontario COVID hospitalization and ICU bed occupancy rates likewise appear to be flattening at rates comparable to last year’s, when they were rapidly dropping.
That’s about all the news from still-available sources. The more independent statisticians at COVID-19 Resources Canada have haven’t updated their estimate of last week to the effect that one in every 82 Ontarians are currently afflicted by a COVID infection and therefore infectious. Public Health Canada is still adjusting its reporting on currently-circulating COVID viruses with their latest data now more than a week older than what they had published a week ago. I’ve therefore left that graph unchanged. Hopefully their reporting will settle down soon.