CORONAVIRUS

Lenawee County in medium COVID-19 level; 3 deaths reported last week

Mike Stucka and David Panian
USA TODAY NETWORK
Lenawee County is in the medium community COVID-19 level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Counties in the medium level are marked in yellow, counties in the low level are green, and counties in the high level are orange.

Lenawee County, like much of the southern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, was in the medium community COVID-19 level at the end of last week.

Lenawee County reported 222 cases and three deaths in the latest week, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. A week earlier, it had reported 213 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 28,438 cases and 339 deaths.

In the medium COVID-19 level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people at risk of serious illness from the virus wear masks while at indoor, public places such as stores and theaters.

Michigan reported 16,901 new cases of coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, down 8% from the previous week. The previous week had 18,375 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Michigan ranked eighth among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, according to the Johns Hopkins data. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 0.6% from the week before, with 401,433 cases reported. With 3% of the country's population, Michigan had 4.21% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 17 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Only seven Michigan counties are in the CDC's high community COVID level: Gratiot, Macomb, Montcalm and St. Clair in the Lower Peninsula and Delta, Dickinson and Iron in the Upper Peninsula.

In the high community COVID category, the CDC recommends everyone wear masks while at indoor, public places regardless of COVID vaccination status.

Hillsdale and Jackson county are both in the low community COVID level. Lenawee County's Ohio neighbors — Williams, Fulton and Lucas counties — are in the medium level. Washtenaw and Monroe counties are also in the medium level.

The CDC uses the number of new COVID cases and hospitalizations to determine the community levels.​

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Within Michigan, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Keweenaw County with 331 cases per 100,000 per week; Clinton County with 315; and Dickinson County with 269.

Lenawee County had 213 new cases per 100,000 for the week ending Sept. 22, according to the COVID data-tracking website mistartmap.info. That is up from 26 new cases per 100,000 as of the week ending March 31 but down from a recent high of 301 for the week ending Aug. 11. The case counts have been trending up since the week ending Aug. 25, which had 114 new cases per 100,000.

In Michigan, 147 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 196 people were reported dead.

A total of 2,821,489 people in Michigan have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 38,464 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 96,070,980 people have tested positive and 1,056,416 people have died.

Note: In the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus data, cases and deaths for the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Federal Correctional Institution separately from Michigan counties.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Michigan's COVID-19 hospital admissions staying flat

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Sept. 25. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 1,227
  • The week before that: 1,252
  • Four weeks ago: 1,274

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 55,707
  • The week before that: 55,506
  • Four weeks ago: 64,244

Hospitals in 13 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 20 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 25 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.