State reports 16,530 new cases, 358 deaths
Michigan public health officials reported Wednesday 16,530 new COVID-19 cases from Tuesday to Wednesday and 358 additional virus deaths over the past two days.
That case total brought the state’s total confirmed number of cases to 1,318,123 and deaths to 24,090 since the onset of the pandemic. Of the 358 deaths announced Wednesday, 160 were identified during a vital records review.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) publishes new case, death, and vaccination numbers every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with new school outbreak-related data published every Monday.
Locally, since Monday, Macomb County has reported 1,647 new cases and 27 additional deaths. In Oakland County, there were 2,005 new cases and 38 additional deaths. In Wayne County, there were 1,943 new cases and 33 additional deaths.
The state’s vaccination coverage rate for residents 5 and older is at 61.2%, up 0.5% since Monday. The vaccination rate for those 16 and over, which surpassed 70 percent last month, was not available Wednesday.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration said Tuesday it wants lawmakers to quickly allocate $300 million in federal pandemic rescue funding to support COVID-19 testing at schools amid a fourth surge of infections in Michigan.
The money was included in the relief law approved by Congress and President Joe Biden in March. It is set to expire next summer and is part of a $2.5 billion supplemental spending request that state budget director Christopher Harkins sent to the Republican chairmen of legislative appropriations committees on Nov. 19.
The GOP-led Legislature returned to session Tuesday after a two-week break.
“We’d really like to get that school testing money appropriated sooner rather than later,” said Kurt Weiss, spokesman for the state budget office, saying it has a shorter timeline than other funds. “We would love to be able to help school districts isolate cases more quickly so that the schools don’t have to reduce in-person instructional days due to outbreaks.”