Michigan add 174 cases, 2 deaths from COVID-19

Sarah Rahal
The Detroit News

Michigan on Wednesday added 174 cases and 2 deaths from the coronavirus.

The figures bring Michigan's total number of cases to 893,756 and 19,664 deaths since the virus was first detected in March 2020, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

On Tuesday, with 91 confirmed cases reported, the state recorded its lowest daily total in just over a year. Case rates and hospitalizations in Michigan have been decreasing for nine weeks and the statewide positivity rate has dropped to 2%.

Thirteen-year-old Megan Sims shows off her band-aid after being vaccinated for COVID-19 at the Beaumont Service Center in Southfield, May 13, 2021.

Last week, the state added 1,033 cases and 72 deaths from the virus, a decrease from the week prior when the state added 1,786 cases and 175 deaths.

During the week of May 30- June 5, the state added 2,626 cases and 202 deaths from the virus.

The weekly record of 50,892 cases was set Nov. 15-21. The second highest weekly total was 47,316 Nov. 22-28.

The weekly record of 808 deaths was recorded in mid-December.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in April announced the "MI Vacc to Normal" plan tying future COVID-19 restrictions to the percentage of residents who have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

On Tuesday, the state lifted its remaining COVID-19 restrictions after rolling back many others in recent weeks, including indoor and outdoor capacity limitations. 

As of Monday, 61% of Michigan residents over age 16 had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

As children ages 12-15 in the state became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine last month, the increase in the population decreased the percentage of the population vaccinated to about 55.8%.

Michigan's latest data

Michigan ranks 36th for highest case rate, as cases per 100,000 have decreased from a high of 519 cases per capita earlier in April to 15 per capita. The Virgin Islands is leading at 77 cases per 100,000 people, outpacing Wyoming at 71 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Jackson and Lansing are experiencing the fastest growth in COVID-19 cases.

Those ages 30-39 have the highest case rates in the state, followed by 10-19, then 20-29. Since April, case rates have decreased more than 50% for those between the ages of 50 and 79.

From January to May, there have been 438 outbreaks from youth sports resulting in 1,664 infections, with the most clusters from basketball, hockey and wrestling. In the past week, the largest number of new cases have been baseball, dance, track, lacrosse and volleyball.

The state has the fifth-highest inpatient bed utilization and the 11th-highest death rate in the United States, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker.

Mississippi, Missouri and Utah are seeing weekly increases in hospitalizations. The city of Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Missouri, and Florida have the highest per capita hospitalized patient numbers.

About 4.4% of hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients.

As of Monday, 341 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 102 in an intensive care unit and 56 other patients on ventilators. That's a 91% drop from April 19 when hospitalizations peaked with 4,158 patients.

State health department officials remain cautious as new variants of COVID-19 spread. The variants are identified through target testing and state officials expect there are cases of variants that have not been identified or recorded.

As of Monday, Michigan has 12,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants — the majority, or 11,344 cases, being B.1.1.7.

The first case of the B.1.1.7 variant was identified in January in a University of Michigan student who had traveled from the United Kingdom. There are 533 cases of the variant within the Michigan Department of Corrections after an outbreak of 90 cases at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia County.

The first case of the South African variant B.1.351 was confirmed by the state Bureau of Laboratories in a boy living in Jackson County. There are a total of 69 cases of the variant.

The first case of the P.1. variant from Brazil was identified in a Bay County resident. There are now 248 confirmed cases of P.1.

There are also 302 confirmed cases of B.1.427 and B.1.429, two variants formed in California.

The first case of B.1.617 was identified in Clinton County in May. The "Delta variant" was initially detected in India in October. There are now 25 cases in the state.

Wayne County has the largest spread of the B.1.1.7 variant with more than 1,263 cases and an additional 590 in Detroit. Wayne, Washtenaw, Macomb, Livingston and Genesee counties have six of the seven variants. Oakland and Clinton counties have all the reported variants.

Vaccines available for all 12-plus

As of Sunday, the state had administered 8.8 million of 11.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine distributed. 

The state's fully vaccinated population includes 73% of all seniors 65 years and older, 60% of people aged 50 to 64; 48% of people age 40 to 49; 43% of people age 30 to 39; 33% of people age 20 to 29; and 32% of people age 16 to 19.

Earlier in June, Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine strongly protects kids as young as 12 and aims to be next in line to distribute the vaccine to that age group. It plans to submit its teen data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other global regulators early next month.

Less than 1% of people who are fully vaccinated test positive, according to the state's metrics.

In Detroit, vaccination rates lag. About 37% of residents so far have received one dose, according to the city's COVID-19 dashboard. That's compared to 62% in outer-Wayne County, 54% in Macomb County and 65% in Oakland and Washtenaw counties.

To ramp up vaccinations Detroit is offering "good neighbor" incentives and walk-up vaccination clinics at the TCF Center, Farewell Recreational Center, Northwest Activities Center and the Samaritan Center. No appointment is needed.

The virus is blamed for more than 601,000 deaths and 33.5 million confirmed infections in the U.S.

As of Monday, the state is tracking 197 active outbreaks including three new school outbreaks since last week at educational institutions including K-12 public and private schools.

One outbreak was in long-term care facility, one in retail and one in healthcare.

The state considered 860,080 people recovered from the virus as of Friday.