Michigan’s COVID-19 levels continue to drop – MLive.com

Michigan’s COVID-19 situation continues to improve.

As of Friday, April 21, all 83 counties reported low COVID-19 community levels, according to metrics designed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A handful of counties had reported at least medium levels in recent weeks.

Additionally, the average confirmed COVID cases reported daily by the state has dropped to the lowest point since summer 2021; the daily deaths average is down to its lowest point since last summer, and hospitalizations continue to track down.

Federal health officials assess each county’s COVID Community Level based on reported coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. Experts recommend residents living in high-risk areas to consider masking indoors, regardless of vaccination status, to limit transmission.

Community Levels put counties in one of three buckets: low (green), medium (yellow) or high (orange). The goal is to prevent severe disease and limit strain on hospitals.

No county has reached a high COVID level over the last four weeks. Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron and Menominee in the Upper Peninsula were medium a week ago before returning to low levels.

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.)

For hospitalizations, the CDC looks at three pieces: 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 for the week and either (A) 10-plus new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or (B) 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 more on the latest COVID-19 trends in Michigan.

Michigan is reporting 381 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week

Over the previous two weeks, the daily average for confirmed COVID cases dropped from 516 cases per day to 431. This week’s daily average of 381 reported cases is the lowest since July 2021.

Five counties reported no new cases last week. They were Charlevoix, Iron, Alger, Montmorency, and Mackinac.

The top 10 counties by new cases per 100,000 people were Gogebic (139), Ontonagon (86), Alcona (79), Baraga (74), Clare (68), Arenac (67), Houghton (54), Ogemaw (53), Keweenaw (49), and Oceana (49).

The top 10 counties by total new cases without accounting for population were Wayne (516), Oakland (392), Macomb (276), Washtenaw (150), Kent (119), Ingham (95), Genesee (94), Muskegon (61), Kalamazoo (59), and Saginaw (48).

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 are based only on “confirmed” numbers, which differs from the state’s use of “confirmed” plus “probable” data in its reporting.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reports COVID cases once per week. There were 3,867 confirmed and probable cases this week, down from 4,646 last week.

Michigan has reported more than 2.64 million confirmed COVID cases and at least 449,024 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.)

20 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days

Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 20 had an increase in cases this week compared to last week.

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.)

Michigan ranks 7th in the U.S. in new cases per capita

Michigan had the seventh-most COVID cases per capita of the 50 U.S. states for the week of April 6-12, per the New York Times.

States with the most cases per capita this week were North Dakota, Hawaii, New Mexico, West Virginia and Arizona. States with the fewest reported cases per capita were Delaware, Georgia, and Connecticut.

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.

For COVID hospital admissions, Michigan was tied for 38th-most per capita during that time. For COVID deaths per capita, Michigan was tied for fifth.

Average test positivity is 8.8%

About 8.8% of COVID tests submitted to the state this week were positive, which is the lowest rate in recent weeks and down from 9.4% last week.

The percent positivity rate has hovered between 10% and 13% since late January.

Michigan’s rate peaked at 35% in January 2022. It dipped as low as 2% in early March 2022 before climbing again. However, the rise in at-home, self-testing led to rates typically remaining higher due to fewer people reporting negative test results to their local health departments.

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.)

Hillsdale County had the highest percent positivity rate of all Michigan counties for the second consecutive week. The county’s rate was 20%.

To see the COVID test positivity rate for your county, see the searchable table below.

Hospitals treating 551 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients

COVID hospitalizations dropped from 596 confirmed or suspected adult cases of COVID-19 last week, and 732 the week prior.

Among the adults with COVID hospitalized on Wednesday, April 19, the state reported that 70 were in intensive care and 28 were on a ventilator.

Michigan also had 12 children hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID as of Wednesday, on par with the previous week.

Michigan is reporting five new COVID deaths per day in the past week

Michigan had five COVID deaths per day this week. That’s down from 10 per day last week.

Twenty-two counties reported at least one COVID death, led by Wayne with six. Oakland reported five deaths and Macomb had four, while Berrien and Ottawa each had three.

Michigan has had 38,410 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 4,257 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. During omicron’s peak last January, Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day.

The chart below shows the seven-day average for COVID deaths throughout the pandemic.

(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)

Vaccinations: 16.7% of residents have received omicron-specific booster

About 64.1% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 59.7% have received the full original regimen and 38.9% have been boosted.

The omicron-specific COVID-19 booster is available in Michigan from both Pfizer and Moderna. About 16.7% of residents have received the bivalent booster so far, or about 1.66 million residents.

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, April 19. The state didn’t update its vaccination data this week due to “a technical issue.”

• 75 and older: 87.4% initiated; 82.8% completed, 36.3% up to date
• 65 to 74: 90.6% initiated; 86.8% completed, 41% up to date
• 50 to 64: 77% initiated; 73% completed, 22% up to date
• 40 to 49: 67.9% initiated; 63.3% completed, 12.9% up to date
• 30 to 39: 66.3% initiated; 60.7% completed, 10.6% up to date
• 20 to 29: 56.4% initiated; 50.5% completed, 6.4% up to date
• 16 to 19: 57.3% initiated; 52.5% completed, 6.3% up to date
• 12 to 15: 50.3% initiated; 46.8% completed, 7.7% up to date
• 5 to 11: 31.3% initiated; 28.4% completed, 5.2% up to date
• Younger than 5: 9.9% initiated, 6% completed, 4% 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.

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