Four counties in the western Upper Peninsula are now in the red zone with Michigan’s highest rates of coronavirus transmission, based on a metric developed by the Harvard Global Health Initiative to assess coronavirus risk levels.
Delta County, which included Escanaba, is now in that category along with Iron, Houghton and Menominee.
The four counties, which have a collective population of about 105,000 residents, have reported more than 200 new cases so far this week.
Houghton is home to Michigan Tech University where outbreaks among college students are spiking county numbers. The Lake Shore Live music festival on Sept. 12 in Escanaba has been listed as a potential exposure site in Escanaba, while public health officials also have warned of an outbreak linked to Chung’s Bar and Grill, an eatery at Crystal View Golf Course in Crystal Falls.
The Harvard Institute metric uses a seven-day average of new cases per 100,000 residents. The newest assessment is based on data for Sept. 17-23.
Meanwhile, Ingham County, which has been struggling with outbreaks among Michigan State University students, has moved from red to orange as numbers in the county continue to drop.
Seven other counties also are orange: Ottawa, Clinton, Iosco, Dickinson, Cass, Benzie and Branch.
At the other of the spectrum, five counties are in the green zone as of Thursday morning, based on the Harvard Institute metric. Those counties have minimal transmission of coronavirus right now.
Four counties -- Alcona, Oscoda, Lake and Luce -- reported no new cases in the past week. The other green county is Wexford, which includes Cadillac.
The map below is shaded by the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 residents. The arrows indicate whether the total number of cases over the past seven days (Sept. 17-23) has gone up or down compared to the previous seven days (Sept. 10-16).
Readers can put their cursor over a county to see the underlying data. If you can’t see the map, click here.
Latest on coronavirus testing
Five Michigan counties have a positive rate of at least 5% in coronavirus tests reported in the last 14 days ending Sept. 22. The state is averaging more than 28,000 tests a day.
Iosco County had the highest 14-day average at 6.7%, followed by Cass (6.2%), Iron (5.6%), Ingham (5.5%) and Macomb (5.1%).
Note: The number of positive tests does not match confirmed cases because a single patient may be tested multiple times.
The World Health Organization says schools are safe to reopen if fewer than 5% of coronavirus tests over the past two weeks are positive.
The map below shows the 14-day average testing rate by county. Once again, readers can put their cursor over a county to see the underlying data. If you can’t see the map, click here.
Below are online databases that allow readers to look up county-level data for each of the last 20 days.
Cases by day it was reported to the state
First is a chart showing new cases reported to the state each day for the past 20 days. This is based on when a confirmed coronavirus test is reported to the state, which means the patient first became sick days before.
You can call up a chart for any county, and you can put your cursor over a bar to see the date and number of cases. (As of Sept. 1, the state stopped reporting numbers on Sundays, so numbers on Sept. 7, Sept. 14 and Sept. 21 cover two days.)
(In a few instances, a county reported a negative number (decline) in daily new cases, following a retroactive reclassification by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. In those instances, we subtracted cases from the prior date and put 0 in the reported date.
The next chart below shows new cases for the past 20 days based on onset of symptoms. In this chart, numbers for the most recent days are incomplete because of the lag time between people getting sick and getting a confirmed coronavirus test result, which can take up to a week or more.
You can call up a chart for any county, and you can put your cursor over a bar to see the date and number of cases.
More localized maps
Below are two maps created by the EpiBayes research group at University of Michigan’s Department of Epidemiology, which has access to sub-county data collected by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The interactive maps break down the state into 10 kilometer hexogons to provide more a more localized look at where coronavirus cases are occurring. You can click here to get to the research project website.
The first map looks at confirmed and probable coronavirus cases in the past week. You can click on a hexagon to see the underlying data.
You can use the triangle button at the upper right of the map to toggle to the second map, which shows total confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Latest daily report
On Wednesday, the state reported 705 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 12 deaths..
The state’s seven-day average is now 679 new cases a day, compared to an average of 741 a week ago. The seven-day average of deaths is 10 deaths a day compared to seven a week ago.
The map below shows total confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths since the start of the pandemic. You can put your cursor over a county to see the underlying numbers.
For more statewide data, visit MLive’s coronavirus data page, here. To find a testing site near you, check out the state’s online test finder, here, send an email to COVID19@michigan.gov, or call 888-535-6136 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.
COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS:
In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.
Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.
Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued executive orders requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nosewhile in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces. See an explanation of what that means here.
Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.
For more data on COVID-19 in Michigan, visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/data/.
Read more on MLive:
Michigan pandemic death toll is thousands higher than official counts
WMU reports 72 new coronavirus cases; university now at 235 infections
Coronavirus cases more than tripled among Michigan residents under age 25 since July 5