Two new COVID deaths in Durham put a damper on other optimistic numbers from Oshawa to Ajax

Two new deaths from COVID-19 mar an otherwise positive week on the virus front, with intensive care wards in Durham Region free of COVID patients for the first time in nearly a year.

Just 13 people in hospital are COVID-positive and the incidence rate per 100,000 people is down to 31.9 for the week of May 29-June 4, the seventh week in row with declining numbers. The total number of cases is also down to 234 (from 255) and the positivity rate from testing has also dropped, from 6.9 per cent to 6.2 per cent.

The number of outbreaks at long-term care homes and other institutions has also fallen from seven to four, though long-suffering residents in some facilities wish the pandemic could truly be over. Hillsdale Estates in Oshawa, which lost eight residents to a deadly outbreak in the fall of 2021, is now in their 14^th outbreak since the pandemic was declared more than two years ago.