11 Michigan counties at medium or high COVID level this week, CDC says
Michigan has one county at a high COVID-19 Community level, 10 at a medium level and 72 at a low level, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, Dec. 1.
The CDC uses Community Levels to determine COVID risk, putting counties in one of three buckets: low (green), medium (yellow) or high (orange).
Dickinson County in the Upper Peninsula is the only Michigan county at a high level this week.
The CDC recommends masking indoors in public in counties at a high Community Level regardless of vaccination status. However, people with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to COVID-19 should still wear a mask regardless of the county, the CDC says.
Here’s the latest map showing the Community Level for each Michigan county. Tap/hover over a county to see details.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
The 10 counties at a medium level are: Monroe, St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Menominee, Iron, Gogebic and Ontonagon.
Last week, Michigan had zero counties at a high COVID-19 Community Level, 10 at a medium level and 72 at a low level.
The CDC considers cases and hospitalizations when determining COVID risk for an area. The goal is to prevent severe disease and limit strain on hospitals.
For Community Levels, the CDC looks at three factors: the percentage of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID patients, COVID hospital admissions per capita and COVID cases per capita.
A county is at a high level when there are 200-plus new cases per 100,000 in the past week and either (A) 10-plus new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or (B) when at least 10% of the staffed inpatient beds are occupied by COVID patients.
If hospitalizations are particularly high, even a county with low cases can be at a high level, per the CDC formula.
(Not every county has a hospital, so each is assigned a health services area, a larger region that contains at least one hospital. Counties are attributed the metrics for the entire area, weighted based on each county’s population. For example: Monroe County’s health services area also includes the Toledo, Ohio area.)
Here’s the latest COVID-19 trends in Michigan from the past week.
Michigan is reporting 1,010 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week
Last week, Michigan averaged 989 new COVID cases per day. This week, it averaged 1,010 per day. Those are the lowest numbers in the state since mid-April.
After a giant spike in January when the omicron variant first hit, Michigan saw a much smaller spike in May and a plateau throughout the summer. Michigan had big COVID spikes in both November 2020 and November 2021, but that didn’t happen this November.
Michigan also reported 252 “probable” COVID cases per day this week.
Cases are “confirmed” when there’s a positive result from an NAAT/RT-PCR test. Cases are “probable” when there’s a reported antigen (rapid) test or if somebody has symptoms and was exposed to a person with COVID-19.
All graphics in this story except the initial one (which uses CDC case calculations) are based only on “confirmed” numbers.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reports COVID cases once per week. The department announced 8,831 confirmed and probable cases this week.
Michigan has reported more than 2.5 million confirmed COVID cases and nearly 406,000 probable cases since the pandemic began.
The chart below shows the seven-day average for new, confirmed COVID cases throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Michigan ranks 26th in the U.S. in new cases per capita
Michigan had the 26th-most COVID cases per capita last week, according to data from the New York Times.
States with the highest COVID rates this week were New York, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Jersey and Illinois. States with the lowest COVID rates were Vermont, Mississippi, Alaska, Florida and Georgia.
For COVID hospitalizations, Michgan had the 20th-most per capita this week. For COVID deaths, Michigan had the second-highest rate per capita of all states this week.
40 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 40 had more COVID cases this week than last week.
Among Michigan’s largest counties, Wayne County’s cases jumped 9% and Macomb County’s increased by 6% and Kent County was up by one case versus last week. Meanwhile, Oakland County dipped 2%, Washtenaw County dropped 8%, Genesee was down 13% and Jackson dropped 12%.
See the database below to search/sort case totals by county. The chart also shows the percent change from week to week and the seven-day case average per capita.
(Can’t see the database? Click here.)
2 Michigan counties at highest risk for cases
There are two counties at the highest risk level (Level E) for cases: Dickinson and Menominee counties in the Upper Peninsula.
The MDHHS has five risk levels for COVID cases:
- Level A: 7-19 cases per day per million residents
- Level B: 20-39 cases per day per million
- Level C: 40-69 cases per day per million
- Level D: 70-149 cases per day per million
- Level E: 150+ cases per day per million
Counties with the highest COVID rates per capita this week were Dickinson, Menominee, Macomb, Iron, Wayne and Jackson counties.
Michigan’s lowest COVID rates this week belong to Keweenaw, Alcona, Oscoda, Presque Isle and Manistee counties.
The map below is shaded by the state’s six risk-assessment levels from A to E. This is based on new cases reported per day per million people from Nov. 23-29.
The arrows on each county show if new cases this week were up or down compared to the previous week. Put your cursor over a county to see the underlying data. (Hint: Drag the map with your cursor to see the entire U.P.)
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
COVID case totals don’t tell the whole story. At-home tests are not reported, so those aren’t included in the data. That’s why it’s also key to look at percent positivity of reported tests and data on hospitalizations and deaths.
Average test positivity is 12%
On Monday, Nov. 28, about 12% of all COVID tests reported to the state came back positive.
The positivity rate has hovered between 11% and 13% in the past week.
The World Health Organization considers there to be a substantial level community transmission when positivity rates are above 5%.
Michigan’s rate peaked at 35% in January. It dipped as low as 2% in early March before climbing again.
The graph below shows the percentage of COVID-19 tests reported that came back positive throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
COVID positivity rates were highest this week in Marquette, Shiawassee and Dickinson counties, and lowest in Baraga, Keweenaw and Oscoda counties.
To see the COVID test positivity rate for your county, see the searchable table below.
(Can’t see the database? Click here.)
The interactive map below shows the seven-day average testing rate by county. Put your cursor over a county to see details.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Hospitals treating 1,077 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients
Adult COVID hospitalizations dipped last week during the Thanksgiving holiday, but jumped 16.4% this week to 1,077, as of Wednesday, Nov. 30.
Among the 1,077 hospitalized, 129 are in intensive care and 50 are on a ventilator.
Michigan also has 32 children hospitalized with COVID, as of Wednesday.
Michigan is reporting 13 new COVID deaths per day in the past week
About 13 people in Michigan died from COVID each day this week, the lowest mark in nearly three months.
During omicron’s peak in January, Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day.
Michigan has had 36,409 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 3,676 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 276 Michigan residents have died from confirmed COVID.
Below is a chart illustrating the seven-day average for reported deaths throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Vaccinations: 63.8% of residents have received at least one dose
About 63.8% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 59.1% have received the full original regimen and 35.7% have been boosted.
The omicron-specific COVID-19 booster shot is now available in Michigan from both Pfizer and Moderna. About 12.8% of residents have received this bivalent booster so far.
Below is a breakdown by age group of Michiganders who’ve gotten at least one shot (initiated), those who have two shots (completed) and those who are considered “up to date” on COVID vaccines, as of Wednesday, Nov. 30.
- 75 and older: 87.3% initiated; 82.4% completed, 30.1% up to date
- 65 to 74: 90.6% initiated; 86.4% completed, 33.8% up to date
- 50 to 64: 77.0% initiated; 72.7% completed, 17.0% up to date
- 40 to 49: 67.8% initiated; 63.0% completed, 9.7% up to date
- 30 to 39: 66.2% initiated; 60.2% completed, 8.1% up to date
- 20 to 29: 56.0% initiated; 49.9% completed, 4.6% up to date
- 16 to 19: 56.9% initiated; 52.1% completed, 4.0% up to date
- 12 to 15: 50.1% initiated; 46.5% completed, 5.3% up to date
- 5 to 11: 30.9% initiated; 28.0% completed, 2.9% up to date
- Younger than 5: 8.5% initiated, 4.2% completed, 3.9% up to date
For more statewide data, visit MLive’s coronavirus data page.
To find a testing site near you, check out the state’s online test find send an email to COVID19@michigan.gov, or call 888-535-6136 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.
If you have any COVID-19 questions, please submit them to covidquestions@mlive.com to be considered for future MLive reporting.
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