Michigan COVID cases rise as state adds 14,353 cases, 174 deaths over last week
Michigan’s COVID-19 hospitalization and case rates have increased for the first time after declining for the last five consecutive weeks, according to totals released late Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The state added 14,353 cases and 174 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, including totals from the previous five days. Michigan reported an average of about 2,050 cases per day over the last seven days, a 15% increase of from 1,780 cases per day a week prior.
On June 21, the state said it had added 10,681 cases and 69 deaths from the virus in the previous week.
On Monday, the state reported that 696 adults and 15 pediatric patients were hospitalized with confirmed infections, a slight increase from 681 adults and 18 children last week.
Inpatient records were set on Jan. 10, when 4,580 adults were hospitalized with COVID-19.
On Monday in Michigan, about 6.2% of the state’s hospital beds were filled with COVID-19 patients, and there was an average of 1,057 emergency room visits related to COVID-19 per day in the state as of Monday. That compares with 24% of hospital beds being full and 2,889 daily emergency room visits due to the virus in the first week of January.
Between June 17-23, about 12.4% of Michigan’s COVID-19 tests returned positive.
All Metro Detroit health departments are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that recommend indoor masking for public settings and K-12 schools as the rate of infection has grown from “medium” to “high.”
Tuesday’s additions bring the state’s overall totals to 2,606,431 cases and 36,918 deaths since the virus was first detected here in March 2020.
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Only Iron County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula remains at a “high” level for the increased burden on health care or severe disease.
Another 15 counties, mostly in northern Michigan, have a “medium” transmission level, according to the state health department: Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Dickenson, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Luce, Mackinac, Manistee, Menominee and Monroe.
Case counts are well below early January, when the state set a new high mark with more than 20,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per day.
In Michigan, variants of the virus have moved at a high rate, proving more contagious than past variants and infecting unvaccinated and vaccinated residents.
A new iteration of the omicron variant, BA.2, now is the dominant strain across Michigan and the country, but experts say another surge of cases is unlikely.
The Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval of Remdesivir on April 25, making it the first COVID-19 treatment for children under age 12.
In Michigan, 302 cases of a rare inflammatory condition in children linked with the coronavirus have been reported to the CDC. About 65% of kids with the syndrome are admitted to intensive care units, and there have been five deaths.
As of Monday, 136 outbreaks were reported over the prior week. The majority, 74, were in K-12 schools, 37 outbreaks were in long-term care facilities and senior assisted living centers. Another12 outbreaks were in daycare or youth sports programs. The state is tracking 203 ongoing outbreak cases.
About 66% of state residents, or 6.6 million, have received their first doses of a vaccine, and 60% are fully vaccinated. More than 238,000 children ages 5-11 in Michigan, or 29%, have received their first dose of the vaccine.
More than 3.2 million individuals, or 35% of the eligible population, have received a vaccine booster in Michigan and 5.6 million are fully vaccinated.
U.S. regulators authorized the first COVID-19 shots for infants and preschoolers, paving the way for vaccinations to begin this week. The Food and Drug Administration’s panel unanimous recommend the shots from Moderna and Pfizer for children between 6 months and 5 years old.
srahal@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @SarahRahal_
