Michigan COVID cases, hospitalizations fall in the last week

Michigan reports 14,678 new COVID-19 cases, according to a weekly report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services released Tuesday.

That’s a drop from the last report, when the state said there were 16,901 new cases for the week.

The department reports a total of 2,836,167 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. In total, 38,624 people have died from the virus with 160 deaths reported on Tuesday compared to 147 the week prior. 

However, as home testing has increased during the last year, experts note that some cases are not being recorded. 

The virus has been detected in all of Michigan’s 83 counties. The state’s COVID-19 fatality rate is at 1.4% as of Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, the state reported a total of 1,058 COVID-19 hospitalizations across Michigan hospitals, a decrease of 76 from the previous week. The state also reported that 124 COVID-19 patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), which is down slightly from 126 last week.

The first two cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state on March 10, 2020. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency that day.

The community risk level for Michigan remains at “medium” after it had been at “high” a few weeks ago. There are 13 counties at “high” risk level, which is up from eight last week.  

There are 35 counties across the state at “medium” risk level, down from 56 counties last week. There are 35 counties at “low” risk level, an increase of 12 over the previous week.

Johns Hopkins University reports that there are about 615.9 million confirmed cases worldwide and 6.5 million deaths. The United States makes up a significant portion of those, as 96.1 million confirmed cases and 1,057,200 deaths have been recorded nationally.

Michigan currently has an overall vaccination rate (one or more doses) of 68%, putting it in the lower half of state vaccination rates. About 61% of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated, while 34.5% of the state has received a booster shot.

About 75% of the entire United States population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.