The most recent week of official COVID-19 statistics is indicative of a flattening of Canadian infection rates following a seasonal autumn rise which has been the mildest on record.
As you can see from our composite chart, Canada-wide municipal wastewater COVID viral counts were running at just slightly below those of last year at this time. Ontario PCR COVID testing, however, showed a positivity rate of little more than half of last year’s comparable figure, which is quite consistent with Ontario’s COVID hospitalization and ICU bed occupancy rates.
The more independent statisticians at COVID-19 Resources Canada have yet to update their September report, so we’ll have to wait another week for their very useful estimate of the proportion of Ontarians who are currently infected and hence infectious.
Public Health Canada’s most recent report on currently-circulating COVID variants next week shows the XFG family to have regained its dominance at nearly 60% of total Canadian infections, thanks to its new RV strain having rocketed from only 11 % to 41% in the previous two weeks. Like its predecessors in that family and, indeed, all currently-significant variants, it primarily presents as a standard upper respiratory tract infection with symptoms like a cough, fever, sore throat, and fatigue.