While COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations continue to decline, the death toll is still high.
The province is out with their weekly COVID-19 data report for the seven day period ending May 16th.
There were 24 deaths in the past week, with 2,513 new lab-confirmed cases of the virus and 59 new hospitalizations.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Shelley Deeks explained why the number of deaths is still high.
“Often its not unusual for deaths to lag behind case numbers and even hospitalizations,” says Deeks. “I fully expect that in the coming weeks the number of deaths will decrease.”
She also discussed why the number of people with a second booster dose remains low.
“Part of the reason that the increase, particularly for the second booster dose, is slower than previously would be because of the delay that you need after infection and receipt of your booster dose.
This comes as the province announced today mask mandates in public schools will come to an end next Tuesday.