Michigan adds 195 cases, 4 deaths from COVID-19

Sarah Rahal
The Detroit News

Michigan on Wednesday added 195 cases and four deaths from COVID-19.

The figures bring Michigan's total number of cases to 894,628 and 19,748 deaths since the virus was first detected in March 2020, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Last week, the state recorded two of the lowest daily totals seen in more than a year. On Friday, the state added 40 cases and 15 deaths from the virus. The last time cases were that low, the state reported 15 cases on March 18, 2020. The state, however, has updated its records to reflect 154 cases recorded on that day.

Drive-up testing for COVID-19 continues at Beaumont Hospital's north entrance in Royal Oak, Michigan on Friday, March 27, 2020.

Case rates and hospitalizations in Michigan have been decreasing for ten weeks and the statewide positivity rate has dropped to 2%.

"We continue to see cases deaths and hospitalizations decline as we see vaccination rates increase," Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Service, said Friday. "We urge all eligible Michiganders to get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they are able."

Last week, the state added 785 cases and 92 deaths from the virus, a decrease from the week prior when the state added 1,033 cases and 72 deaths from the virus.

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.

Last week, the state lifted its remaining COVID-19 restrictions after rolling back many others in recent weeks, including indoor and outdoor capacity limitations. 

As of Monday, 61% of Michigan residents over age 16 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 last month, the increase in the population decreased the percentage of the population vaccinated to about 56%.

The highly transmissible Delta variant accounts for 20% of recent coronavirus cases in the country, CDC head Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday, although case numbers are at their lowest point since March 2020. In fact, the past week had the lowest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths globally since this February. 

Michigan's latest data

Michigan ranks among the lowest states for case rates, as cases per 100,000 have decreased from a high of 519 cases per capita earlier in April to 10 per capita, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Grand Rapids, Detroit, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, and Lansing 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. Since April, case rates have decreased more than 50% for those between the ages of 50 and 79.

From January to May, there have been 438 outbreaks from youth sports resulting in 1,664 infections, with the most clusters from basketball, hockey and wrestling. In the past week, the largest number of new cases have been baseball, dance, track, lacrosse and volleyball.

While COVID-related deaths have decreased 44% since last week, Michigan has the sixth-highest number of deaths and eighth-highest death rate in the United States, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker.

About 2% of hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients.

As of Monday, 267 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 66 in an intensive care unit and 34 other patients on ventilators. That's a 93% drop from April 19 when hospitalizations peaked with 4,158 patients.

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 June 21, Michigan has 12,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants — the majority, or 11,344 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 69 cases of the variant.

The first case of the P.1. variant from Brazil was identified in a Bay County resident. There are now 248 confirmed cases of P.1.

There are also 302 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 25 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 8.9 million of 11.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine distributed. 

The state's fully vaccinated population includes 73% of all seniors 65 years and older, 60% of people aged 50 to 64; 48% of people age 40 to 49; 44% of people age 30 to 39; 34% of people age 20 to 29; and 33% of people age 16 to 19.

Earlier in June, Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine strongly protects kids as young as 12 and aims to be next in line to distribute the vaccine to that age group. It plans to submit its teen data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other global regulators early next month.

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

In Detroit, vaccination rates lag. About 37% of residents so far have received one dose, according to the city's COVID-19 dashboard. That's compared to 62% in outer-Wayne County, 54% in Macomb County and 65% in Oakland and Washtenaw counties.

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 604,000 deaths and 33.6 million confirmed infections in the U.S.

As of Monday, the state is tracking 132 active outbreaks including one outbreak was in long-term care facility, two in manufacturing and two in office settings.

The state considered 865,577 people recovered from the virus as of Friday.