Counties continue to lag state in spread metrics

Only 29 of 5,030 new cases reported Friday were from region

An additional 29 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported across Isabella, Gratiot and Clare counties Friday, but overall those counties have lower spread of the disease than the state as a whole.

That includes Isabella County, where the number of cases are rising the fastest. An additional 17 confirmed cases were reported by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services there on Friday, bringing its cumulative total to 3,780, with 76 deaths.

An outbreak at Central Michigan University continues to push the county’s numbers up. An additional five cases were reported there on Thursday. The university’s rolling seven-day average for new cases was 4.71 based on that data.

The disease appears to still be spreading more slowly in Isabella County than the state as a whole, however, based on two key metrics.

Isabella County has a seven-day average of 22.3 new confirmed and probable cases per 100,000 people based on Wednesday’s data at a county-level dashboard hosted by the Brown University School of Public Health.

The state of Michigan’s seven-day average from the same timeframe is 37.4

Gratiot County’s average from the same time is 19.7, and Clare’s is 13.8.

All three counties also had lower seven-day average rates of diagnostic test results based on data available Thursday.

While the state as a whole averaged 10.25 percent of diagnostic tests returning a positive result, Isabella County’s average was 7.66 percent. It was 3.89 percent in Gratiot County and 5.24 percent in Clare County.

On Friday, an additional seven confirmed cases were reported in Clare County for a cumulative total of 1,453, with 68 deaths. In Gratiot County, an additional five confirmed cases were reported for a cumulative total of 2,527, with 101 deaths.

Elsewhere in mid-michigan, two new deaths were reported, with new and cumulative cases and deaths as follows:

• In Gladwin County, five new confirmed cases were reported for a cumulative total of 1,329, with 40 deaths;

• In Mecosta County, one new death was reported for a total of 22, with 13 additional cases were reported for a cumulative total of 2,049;

• In Midland County, one new death was reported for a total of 64, with 28 additional new cases for a cumulative total of 4,850, with 63 deaths; and,

• In Montcalm County, an additional 19 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 3,501, with 88 deaths.

Statewide, 20 new deaths were reported over the weekend for a total of 16,004 and another 5,030 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 647,899.