Hospitalizations up; all other COVID signs in Durham show the power of the virus is waning

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 nearly doubled last week thought most other indicators for the virus show its strength continues to weaken.

There are 26 people in Durham-area hospitals right now, with two in ICU. The previous reporting period had just 14, with zero patients in intensive care.

Other numbers are positive, however. New cases dropped from 155 to 139 for the week of November 20-26, the per cent positivity rate fell to 6.2 per cent from seven per cent and the weekly incidence rate went from 21.1 per 100,000 population to 18.9.

There are just five outbreaks in local institutions versus eight the previous period, though two of the outbreaks are in local hospitals.

One person died from the virus last week, bringing the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Durham Region since the pandemic was first declared to 522.