Michigan surpasses 900K COVID-19 cases

Michigan on Tuesday surpassed 900,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The state added 1,762 cases and 19 deaths from the virus on Tuesday including totals from Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The figures bring Michigan's total number of cases to 901,683 and deaths to 19,902 since the virus was first detected in March 2020, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Last week the state added 2,323 cases and 35 deaths from the virus, an increase in cases from the previous week when the state added 1,531 cases and a decrease from 47 deaths. Weekly case totals have been rising for three weeks.

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. The state lifted its remaining COVID-19 restrictions on June 22 after rolling back many others, including indoor and outdoor capacity limitations.

Half of the United States' adult population has secured a vaccine dose and as of Monday, 63% of Michigan residents 16 and older 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 in May, the increase in the population decreased the percentage of the population vaccinated to about 57.7%.

Earlier this month, Whitmer unveiled a $5 million initiative offering college scholarships and cash prizes to Michigan residents who have gotten their COVID-19 vaccine, saying the program will save and change lives.

Officials are warning of the highly transmissible Delta variant after outbreaks associated with gymnastics facilities. About 23% of all cases were in kids ages 12 to as young as 5 years old.

The CDC is expected to backpedal Tuesday on its masking guidelines and recommend that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging, according to a federal official.

Michigan's latest data

Michigan has the sixth-lowest case rate and 13th-lowest death rate over the last week in the United States, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker.

Statewide positivity has increased to 3.1% and has been increasing for the last three weeks – up from 2% last week.

Detroit, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Jackson and the Upper Peninsula 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. Case rates for all age groups are no longer decreasing and have entered a low incidence plateau after bottoming out on June 26.

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.

About 1.4% of hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations have increased 13% since last week.

As of Thursday, 250 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 59 in an intensive care unit and 24 other patients on ventilators.

Nearly 84% of those hospitalized from the virus from March 11 through May 15 were unvaccinated.

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 Tuesday, Michigan has 13,772 confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants — the majority, or 13,301 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 82 cases of the variant.

The first case of the P.1. variant from Brazil was identified in a Bay County resident. There are now 318 confirmed cases of P.1.

There are also 307 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 71 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 administered 

As of Thursday, the state had administered 9.6 million of 11.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine distributed. Nearly 4.83 million people in the state are fully vaccinated.

The state's fully vaccinated population includes 75% of all seniors 65 and older, 62% of people aged 50 to 64; 50% of people age 40 to 49; 46% of people age 30 to 39; 36% of people age 20 to 29; and 36% of people age 16 to 19.

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 in early July.

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

In Detroit, vaccination rates lag. About 38% of residents so far have received one dose, according to the city's COVID-19 dashboard. That's compared to 63% in outer-Wayne County, 55% in Macomb County and 66% 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 611,000 deaths and 34.5 million confirmed infections in the U.S. Half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated.

The state considered 871,402 people recovered from the virus as of Friday.

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_