NewCOVID-19cases top2,000

Largest single-day increase since start of pandemic

Michigan added more than 2,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, the largest single- day increase in new cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the state health department’s website, The state saw 2,030 new cases and 32 new deaths due to the coronavirus on Thursday.

The update came on a day that the U. S. saw more than 62,000 new cases reported, according to TheWashington Post, which said this number is highest since late July, when much of the southern U.S. was being swept with thousands of new cases each day.

Cases in the U. S. now are surging in theMidwest.

This means there are now 141,091 confirmed cases and 6,973 deaths in Michigan.

And, with 15,822 probable cases and 329 deaths, this nowputs the state at 156,913 total cases and 7,302 deaths.

The state also said 21 of the 32 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 state noted that some of the numbers provided Thursday could have been on the Wednesday update, when more than 1,300 cases were reported, due to a systemslowdown in submitting the testing results.

“Due to a slowdown in the reporting of electronic laboratory results, the COVID-19 case count for Oct. 15 contains additional case referrals that could have been included in yesterday’s report,” the state reported, noting the higher case count on Thursday.

Worldwide context

Globally, the number of cases of COVID-19 topped 38.7 million

with deaths at more than 1.09 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

And, in theUnited States, which still has the most cases and deaths worldwide, the caseload is more than 7.9million and deaths were over 217,000.

Michigan has been ranked 10th in the nation for the number of deaths, between Georgia and Arizona, with New York as first, according to Johns Hopkins. The state ranked 18th in total cases, still between Wisconsin and Missouri.

Several counties in the Detroit area have canceled city council meetings after the Michigan Supreme Court ruledMonday that its nullification of all of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s coronavirus orders went into effect immediately.

The state’s highest court denied a request to keep Whitmer’s orders, designed to halt the spread of coronavirus, in place through October 30, after ruling on October 2 she did not have the power to execute said orders.

One such order allowed public bodies to hold meetings virtually. With that order declared void, public bodies were unsure if they could continue tomeet that way, since pre-pandemic meetings were only held in person, resulting in the cancellations.

InMacomb, this resulted in confusion in Warren, Clinton Township and Sterling Heights.

And, in Wayne County, Dearborn Heights meetings were canceled until the Michigan legislature could pass a bill saying otherwise, which it plans to do in the near future.

According to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical executive, warned of a possible second wave of the coronavirus, echoing other health experts who are wary the coldermonths will bringmore cases, and since then, more than 3,300cases have been added.

Late on Wednesday night, she tweeted about the importance of maskwearing, hand- washing and social distancing, saying, “For now, wear amask, keep your distance, get a a flu shot. Wewill get through this.”

This echoed Whitmer, who tweeted on Tuesday, “Practice social distancing. Wash your hands frequently. Mask up. We’ve come too far to lose all the progress we’ve made.”

Elsewhere in the world, European countries considered new lockdowns as infections surged, according to TheAssociatedPress.

Averages and Totals

The seven-day average on Thursday were 1,293 cases and 15 deaths added per day, and the seven- day totals for thisweekwere 9,052 cases and 104 deaths.

The first half of October has seen 16,404 cases added fromOctober 1-15, the highest number of total cases added in the first half of the month since cases started increasing July.

There were also 211 deaths confirmed during the same period, an average of about 1,093 cases and 14 deaths added per day.

July 1-15 had 7,327 cases, August 1-15 had 10,536 cases and September had 10,715 cases, in comparison.

This is an average of about 488 cases added per day for the first half of July, 702 cases per day for August and 714 cases per day for September.

The cases inthemonth of October recall what Michigan saw in April, except the number of deaths aremuch lower.

While cases have gone up throughout the summer, the number of deaths have not followedwhat happened in the spring, when the virus sawan early peak.

Tally of cases

The largest number of cases in the state on Wednesday was in Kent County, which added 200 cases, totaling 11,137 cases in the county.

In the Detroit area, the greatest number of new cases was in Oakland County, which added 186 cases, making 18,120 total.

Second was Macomb County, which added 166 new cases, for a total of 15,608 cases in the county.

Then, Wayne County, excluding Detroit, added 151 confirmed cases, meaning there were 199,05 cases in the county on Thursday.

The city of Detroit itself was last, adding just 40 cases, cumulatively making 14,828 cases.

In Mid-Michigan, Isabella County added just seve new cases, Gratiot County four and Clare County nine, meaning there are now 781, 328 and 162 total cases in each county, respectively.

According to The Associated

Press onWednesday, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s chiefmedical executive, warned of a possible secondwave of the coronavirus, echoing other health expertswho arewary the coldermonths will bringmore cases.