Nearly 1,200 cases reported on Thursday

Michigan added nearly 1,200 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, pushing its total number of confirmed cases over 132,000.

The state’s Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,197 new COVID-19 infections.

Another county, Kent County in western Michigan, surpassed the 10,000-mark in the number of confirmed cases.

The new cases brings the state to 132,039 confirmed cases and 6,869 confirmed deaths.

Together with 14,454 probable cases and 324 probable deaths statewide, the state has seen 146,493 total cases and 7,193 total deaths.

The state said 20 of the 22 new deaths reported on Thursday were added from its regular reviews of death certificate data maintained in vital records

reporting systems, which are conducted by Michigan Department of Health and Human Services staff three times per week.

The systems compare records that identify COVID-19 as a contributing factor to death and all laboratory confirmed cases of the disease in the Michigan Disease Surveillance System ( MDSS).

If a death certificate is matched to a confirmed cases, but the MDSS record doesn’t indicate the individual died, the record is updated to denote the death and the appropriate local heath department is contacted.

This is how the additional 20 deaths were added to the total on Thursday.

The update Thursday came as the worldwide number of infections topped 36.2 million with nearly 1.06 million killed, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In the United States, the number of cases of CO

VID-19 neared 7.6 million with about 212,000 deaths tied to the disease.

Michigan has continued to rank 17th in the U. S. in the total number of cases, between South Caroline and Wisconsin, according to Johns Hopkins.

Denial remains an issue

On Thursday, The Associated Press reported the medical professionals across the country are frustrated having continuously to battle skeptics of the coronavirus.

At a hospital in Georgia, where two two staffers have died, people used fishnets and other coverings with visible holes as face masks, while others have come to the hospital with video camera to collect proof COVID-19 is a hoax.

“Just imagine that while you are caring for your own staff that are dying from this disease, and while you are trying to keep yourself safe, and you are trying to keep your family safe, and you are trying to deal with a disease that such little is known about, and then to

have somebody tell you that it is all a hoax after you have been dealingwith that all day,” said Dr. Phillip Coule, the health system’s chief medical officer. “Imagine the emotional distress that that causes.”

He did note that less skepticism has been seen since the president fell ill.

“It is unfortunate that the president has contracted the disease, but it is difficult for groups who support the president to be out there saying it doesn’t exist,” he said.

Testing

Health officials have also been tracking results of statewide testing.

So far, 3,957,766 diagnostic tests and 302,572 serology tests have been conducted.

A diagnostic test looks for genes or proteins from SARS- CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It indicates whether a person currently has the virus.

Serology tests look for the possibility of a previous infection by scanning for antibodies.

As of last Friday, a total of 99,521 Michiganders have recovered from CO

VID-19 (30 days out from onset of illness), a total which is updated by the state every Saturday.

Averages and totals

The 7- day average on Wednesday was 923 cases and about 13 deaths added per day.

The 7- day total for this week was 6,155 cases added and 88 deaths.

Themonth of October so far, in total, has seen 7,352 cases and 107 deaths, averaging 919 cases and 13 deaths added per day.

This is in comparison to the first eight days of September, which added 5,344 cases and 55 deaths.

This was an average of about 668 new confirmed cases and seven deaths for those eight days.

In total, September added 22,219 confirmed cases and 278 deaths, averaging 741 cases and nine deaths per day for the entire month.

Tally of cases

Kent County added the most cases in the state on Thursday with 113 new confirmed cases, totaling 10,112 cases in the county.

It is the first county in the state outside of the Detroit Metro Area to pass the10,000 caseload.

In the Detroit area on Thursday, Wayne County reported the most new cases with 98, making 19,165 cases.

Oakland County followed with 96 new cases, leaving it with 17,309 cases.

After that was Macomb County, with 83 newcases, making 14,868 total cases in the county.

The city of Detroit itself added the least number of new cases in the area, with 26 new cases, for a total of 14,641 cases.

In Mid- Michigan on Thursday, Isabella County reported 13 new cases, bringing its total to 706 cases.

Gratiot County and Clare County added seven and two new cases, making 281 and 117 total cases for the counties, respectively.