Almost half of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan considered recovered

Nearly 49% of those who contracted the coronavirus in Michigan are considered recovered as of Friday. 

The state released its weekly recovery tally Saturday. In total, 22,686 individuals are now considered recovered because they are still alive 30 days after the onset of symptoms. 

The state also announced 133 additional deaths due to the virus, 67 of which occurred days or weeks prior to Friday's daily tally and were added after a review of death certificates where COVID-19 was identified as a contributing factor.

The state also reported 430 new confirmed coronavirus cases. 

The new numbers bring the total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 4,526 and the number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 46,756. 

The additional 66 deaths Friday mark the seventh day where the state had fewer than 100 deaths and the 430 new cases mark the 10th day in which the state had fewer than 1,000 cases

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week announced a six-phase guide to reopening the state. Michigan currently is the "flattening," or third phase of Whitmer's MI Safe Start plan, which  allows for limited reopenings among lower-risk businesses.

To enter the fourth "improving" phases there must be a sharper decrease in cases and deaths, strengthening health care system capacity and more robust testing and containment plans.

The 13,882 tests administered Thursday, the newest and most recent tally available, marked another another record number of tests that were administered. A little less than 8% came back positive, marking the seventh straight day where the percent positive came in below 10%.

A month prior to the Thursday tally, on April 7, there were 4,118 tests administered and nearly 36% came back positive.

The decrease in percent positive cases between April 7 and May 7 could be due either to fewer people getting the virus or the fact that testing protocol in early April was more restrictive, often reserving tests for only those with heightened symptoms.

Of those who have died of the virus, 86% were over the age of 60 and 53% were men. 

About 32% of the confirmed coronavirus cases occurred among African American individuals and 41% of the deaths involved African Americans. 49% of the deaths occurred among Caucasians, who made up 35% of the confirmed cases. 

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

Craig Mauger contributed.