COVID-19 numbers from Pickering to Clarington down from last but still alarmingly high

After a week with dramatically spiking viral numbers the COVID-19 stats released by Durham Health Wednesday have taken a welcome step back but are still alarmingly high.

New cases for the week of December 11-17 were 210, much higher than three weeks ago (139) but down from the 246 reported for the December 4-10 period. The weekly incidence rate, after spiking to 9.93 per 100,00, fell slightly to 9.3, and the per cent positivity rate, which nearly doubled last reporting period to 33.5 per cent, fell back a bit to 28.6.

The number outbreaks at local retirement centres, hospitals and long-term care homes did go up slightly from 15 to 18 but the number of deaths dropped from two to one for the week.