Cases fall below 2,000 on Saturday
More than 730K of 2.2 million bottles that arrived in Michigan were illicit
New coronavirus cases in Michigan fell below 2,000 cases for the first time in 3 days on Saturday, according to the state’s website.
There were 1,659 cases and 38 new deaths in the state, bringing Michigan’s totals to 607,437 cases and 15,774 deaths.
The state health department announced 2,403 new cases on Friday, 2,091 new cases on Thursday and 2,316 new cases on Wednesday, as Michigan crossed the one-year mark of the pandemic.
New daily cases continue to be heaviest in the state’s more populated counties.
At least 30 of the 38 new confirmed deaths on Saturday were identified during a vital records review, which are conducted regularly by the state.
These counts exclude probable cases and deaths linked to COVID-19 and include only confirmed cases and deaths.
Health officials have also been tracking results of statewide testing. So far, 10,860,548 diagnostic tests have been conducted.
As of Friday, a total of 556,697 Michiganders have recovered from COVID-19 (30 days out from onset of illness), a total which is updated by the state every Saturday.
According to Michigan’s website, at least 23.1 percent of the state’s population had been vaccinated as of Saturday, or 1,870,979 people.
On Thursday, Michigan reported 2,921,636 vaccines were administered.
Pfizer vaccines make up 1,576,680 of that total, Moderna vaccines account for 1,33,374 and Johnson and Johnson vaccines are about 11,582, after being authorized last week.
In Oakland County, 338,236 vaccines have been administered, in Macomb County, 229,709 and in Wayne County, 312,309.
The state recently added a coronavirus vaccine section to its webpage, explaining the coronavirus vaccine and displaying a dashboard to give an overview on vaccine distribution in Michigan.
According to Johns Hopkins University, worldwide on Saturday, the number of global cases reached the milestone of over 119.3 million with deaths at over 2.6 million.
In the United States, over 29.3 million cases have been reported with nearly 534,000 deaths tied to the disease.
Michigan ranks as the tenth state in the U.S. with the most total number of deaths, with California as first.
The state is also 14th in the nation in cases, Johns Hopkins says, with California as first.
In the Detroit area on Saturday, Oakland County had the most new cases with 211, as well as 5 new deaths, bringing it to 67,195 cases and 2,102 deaths, in total.
Macomb County was next with 192 new cases and 6 new deaths, for a total count of 57,303 cases and 1,890 deaths.
Wayne County followed with 169 cases and 4 deaths, putting it at 67,195 total cases and 2,102 total deaths.
In the city of Detroit, cases totaled 30,758 and deaths were at 1,868, after 69 new cases and 1 new death was reported.
Nearly one-third of every bottle of alcohol shipped into Michigan in 2019 was shipped illegally, according to data compiled by the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association (MB&WWA).
In total, 2,233,880 bottles of alcohol were shipped into the state in 2019 and of those bottles, 734,365 were shipped illegally. Data collection for 2020 and 2021 have been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using data compiled from reports from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and excise tax data from the state of Michigan, the MB&WWA found 484,101 bottles of alcohol were shipped into Michigan from October through December of 2019. Of those bottles, approximately 250,264 were shipped illegally.
“This data adds to the growing mountain of evidence that some out-ofstate retailers have no problem breaking state laws and ducking paying taxes at a time when our state needs every penny of tax revenue,” said Spencer Nevins, president of the MB&WWA. “Thankfully, Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan Liquor Control Commission have stepped up enforcement and have caught several of these bad actors red-handed.”
Last year, Nessel sued two companies, Vintners Collective LLC and Go to Gifts Inc., for illegally shipping alcohol to consumers in Michigan. In February, judges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered consent agreements involving both companies. Neither will be able to ship alcohol into Michigan unless they become eligible to get a license and must prevent their websites from accepting orders from Michigan. Both companies will also have to pay $10,000 each in fines.
“Every bottle of alcohol illegally shipped into our state hurts mom-and-pop retailers that are proud to call Michigan home, pay taxes and give back to their communities,” Nevins said. “We encourage Attorney General Nessel and state regulators to continue cracking down on out-of-state retailers — like Vintners Collective and Go to Gifts — that have been brazenly thumbing their nose at state law for years.”
In 2018, the MB&WWA began compiling data on illegal wine shipments flowing into Michigan. Data from two quarters of that year showed more than 1 million bottles of alcohol were shipped into Michigan in just six months and at least 300,000 of those bottles were shipped illegally by out-of-state retailers.