Health official: Data 'reinforces need to continue to take measures'

Daily new COVID-19 cases and test positivity rates within the Health Department of Northwest Michigan's four-county jurisdiction continues to see an upward trend.

On Thursday, the health department, which serves Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties, released data from the MI Start Map — which applies U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention methodology for pandemic risk indicators — to demonstrate the spread of the disease in the region.

"These are two of the indicators (newly diagnosed COVID cases and test positivity rates) we follow to assess the trends in the spread of COVID-19 in our community," said Dr. Josh Meyerson, medical director of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan. "Graphs demonstrate the rapid increase in cases that began in mid-August and reinforce the need to continue to take measures to reduce the spread through wearing face coverings, avoiding large groups whenever possible, staying home when ill and frequent hand washing.

"And, the most important way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated."

Graphs from the MI Start Map, which may be viewed at mistartmap.info, are showing all four of the health department's counties in the "high risk" level as of Sept. 22.

In Emmet County, the weekly cases per 100,000 was 317.2 for the week of Sept. 15-22, which is above the threshold of 100. Emmet County's test positivity was also at 8.1%. 

In Charlevoix County, weekly cases per 100,000 was 214.2 for the same week, which was also above the threshold of 100. Test positivity rate was at 8.4%. 

Otsego County's weekly cases per 100,000 was at 316.2, which is also well above the threshold of 100, and the test positivity rate was at 15.8%. The test positivity rate threshold is at 10%.

In Antrim County, weekly cases per 100,000 was at 214.4, which was also above the threshold of 100, while test positivity rate was also above the threshold of 10%, at 13.5%.

According to the Health Department of Northwest Michigan's COVID-19 vaccination data dashboard, a total of 59,998 residents in the four-county jurisdiction age 16 and above — or 66.8% — have received at least one dose of the three available COVID-19 vaccines. 

The health department established a goal months ago of reaching 70% of the population age 16 and over, which is 62,875. 

Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is showing 72.3% of the eligible population in Emmet County has received at least one dose, followed by Charlevoix County at 68.9%, Antrim County at 63.6% and Otsego County at 60%.

Additionally, the health department reported a total of 121 new COVID-19 cases from Tuesday, Sept. 21, through Thursday, Sept. 23.

Of that number, 28 new cases were reported on Tuesday including three in Antrim, five in Charlevoix, 14 in Emmet and six in Otsego County.

On Wednesday, 51 new cases were confirmed including 11 in Antrim, 18 in Charlevoix, 14 in Emmet and eight in Otsego County. One COVID-19 associated death was also reported Wednesday in Otsego County.

A total of 42 cases of the illness were reported on Thursday including five in Antrim, seven in Charlevoix, 18 in Emmet and 12 in Otsego County.

With the new cases, there has now been a total of 9,565 confirmed COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 including 1,919 in Antrim, 2,080 in Charlevoix, 2,848 in Emmet and 2,718 in Otsego County.

There has also been a total of 8,278 confirmed recovered COVID-19 cases including 1,691 in Antrim, 1,816 in Charlevoix, 2,426 in Emmet and 2,345 in Otsego County.

The health department's jurisdiction has also had 153 confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths including 34 in Antrim, 29 in Charlevoix, 45 in Emmet and 45 in Otsego County.

For more information, visit www.nwhealth.org.