Michigan adds 2,605 cases, 26 deaths from COVID-19 over 4 days

Michigan added 2,605 cases and 26 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, including totals from Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The figures bring Michigan's total number of confirmed cases to 906,538 and deaths to 19,947 since the virus was first detected in March 2020, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The state is averaging 651 cases per day over those days.

Last week, the state added 4,012 cases and 38 deaths from the virus, an increase from the previous week, when the state added 2,323 cases and 35 deaths from the virus.

One week prior to that, in mid-July, the state added 1,531 cases and 47 deaths. Weekly case totals have been rising for four 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.

The U.S. this week reached President Joe Biden's goal of having 70% of adults with at least one vaccine dose — a month later than hoped — and as of Monday, 63.7% 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 meant the percentage of the population vaccinated fell to about 58%.

Last 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.

Nearly half of Michigan residents live in counties where the federal government is urging the fully vaccinated to wear masks in public indoor settings because transmission of the coronavirus is “high” or “substantial.”

Michigan's latest data

Michigan has the eighth-lowest case rate and 18th-lowest death rate over the last week in the United States, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker.

Statewide positivity has increased to 4.1% and has been increasing for the last four weeks — up from 3% last week.

Detroit, Grand Rapids, 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.

The number of active outbreaks is up 19% from last week with 21 new outbreaks identified mostly from nursing and long-term care facilities.

About 1.6% of hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations have increased 27% since last week.

As of Monday, 306 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 79 in an intensive care unit and 27 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 Thursday, Michigan has 13,923 confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants — the majority, or 13,433 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 88 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 Monday, the state had administered 9.75 million of 11.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine distributed. Nearly 4.9 million people in the state are fully vaccinated.

The state's fully vaccinated population includes 75% of all seniors 65 and older, 63% of people aged 50 to 64; 51% of people age 40 to 49; 46% of people age 30 to 39; 37% of people age 20 to 29; 36% of people age 16 to 19 and 16% of people age 12 to 15.

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

In Detroit, vaccination rates lag. About 40% of residents so far have received one dose, according to the city's COVID-19 dashboard. That's compared to 65% in outer-Wayne County, 57% in Macomb County and 68% in Oakland County and 67% in Washtenaw County.

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 613,000 deaths and 35 million confirmed infections in the U.S.

The state considered 872,163 people recovered from the virus as of July 27.

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_