8 deaths in region reported over weekend
Eight deaths from COVID-19 were reported across mid-michigan over the weekend. Three of those deaths were reported in Isabella County, where results of a survey say that more than three-quarters of residents would get a COVID-19 vaccination.
The number of COVID-19 deaths involving Isabella County residents is now 62. Information on a death announced by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was also released over the weekend.
The person who died Thursday was an elderly woman with underlying conditions and who died Jan. 8. She was a resident of Prestige Center, said Steve Hall, health officer for Central Michigan District Health Department.
Isabella County joined Mecosta and Montcalm counties as being coded orange according to a countylevel COVID-19 spread dashboard, hosted by the Brown University School of Public Health.
Up until Friday, the county was coded red, the highest risk of spread, with a seven day rolling-average of new cases per 100,000 people of more than 25. On Monday, that number fell to 19.6. A total of 3,350 people have had confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in Isabella County.
The dashboard uses both confirmed and probable cases as its base. MDHHS releases both, but uses confirmed cases as its primary reporting number. CMDHD and Mid-michigan District Health Department, Gratiot County’s health department, also reports both.
Also Monday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review reported the results of a Carnegie Mellon University Facebook-based study on who would take a vaccine if made available to them.
According to the study, Isabella County had the eighth-highest percentage of residents who said they’d get the vaccine at 76.1 percent.
While both developments would herald good news, they were complicated by Michigan’s first documented case of a new strain of the SARS-COV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The strain, called B.1.1.7, was discovered in a Washtenaw County woman who said she’d recently been to the United Kingdom, where the strain was first identified.
A potential wildcard is whether the return of Central Michigan University students might start a second school-related mini-surge. CMU is not reporting additional cases to suggest it, but it often takes up to 10 days for new cases to start showing up on dashboards.
Two additional deaths were announced Monday in Gratiot County, bringing its total to 87. After weeks of not updating its website, MMDHD updated its website sometime Friday to say that 82 Gratiot County residents have died from COVID-19. The state reported 82 deaths in Gratiot County last Tuesday.
Gratiot was also the fourth mid-michigan county downgraded from red to orange on the Brown University School of Public Health county-level dashboard. As of Monday, it was at 23.9 new cases per 100,000 people for a seven-day average.
Six new cases were reported in Gratiot County by MDHHS on Monday, bringing its cumulative total to 2,337. According to MIT Technology Review, 69.9 percent of Gratiot County residents say they’ll take a COVID-19 vaccine when offered.
One new death was reported in Clare County, bringing its total to 58. Nine new cases were reported over the weekend, bringing its cumulative total to 1,226.
Clare County remains coded red on the Brown University dashboard with a seven-day average of 30.9 new cases per 100,000; and according to MIT Technology Review, 69.9 percent of residents say they’d get a COVID-19 when made available.
Elsewhere in mid-michigan, two deaths were reported in one county, for new and cumulative cases as follows:
• In Gladwin County, two additional deaths were reported for a total of 34, and an additional 11 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 1,151.
• In Mecosta County, an additional eight cases were reported for a cumulative total of 1,710 cases, with 15 deaths.
• In Midland County, an additional 56 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 3,955 cases, with 49 deaths.
• In Montcalm County, an additional 13 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 3,059, with 76 deaths.
Statewide, another 20 deaths were reported and another 2,843 cases were reported in Monday’s twoday count.