COVID-19 cases up by nearly 1,600
State leaders amplified warnings Wednesday that the growing outbreaks of COVID-19 throughout the state could bring more hospitalizations and deaths.
To highlight the worries, the state later reported another 1,597 cases of COVID-19 confirmed aswell as another 33 deaths, themost deaths reported in a single day this month.
“Our numbers are climbing,” the governor said. “We need to take this seriously. We need to double down on wearing face masks and physical distancing.
“We know more people will get sick. We knowmore people will be hospitalized. And sadly, more people will lose their battle with COVID-19.”
As of Wednesday, Michigan has had confirmed 150,989 cases and 7,086 deaths.
The update on Wednesday came on a day that saw the worldwide caseload top 41 million and the deaths approach 1.13 million, according todata compiledby Johns Hopkins University. IntheU.S., cases topped8.3 million and deaths neared 222,000.
Ten states have more than 200,000 cases, including neighboring Illinois, which has had nearly 359,000.
Michigan remained 18th, just behind South Carolina.
Another neighbor of Michigan’s, Wisconsin has had more than 178,000 cases, ranking just behind Ohio and its 188,000 cases.
Whitmer noted the increased caseloadwithMichigan’s neighboring states.
“We are not alone,” Whitmer said Wednesday, highlighting the recent spike in cases in Wisconsin. “If we are not careful and we do not all do our part, this
could be our fate aswell.”
The governor asked that people remember to wear facemasksduringanygathering, including at schools, inside businesses and at sporting events.
Monthly trends
Counting probable cases, Michigan has had 167,872 cases and 7,418 deaths so far since March.
As of Wednesday, the month of October has seen 324 deaths and 26,292 cases. The seven-day average of new cases was 1,703, a newpeak.
“This peak is higher than whatwe sawinApril,” Whitmer saidof the recent trend. “We need to take this seriously we need to double down on wearingmasks.”
The increasing of the seven-day average was slow throughout the summer and into the fall, but it has shot upward very quickly in the past couple of weeks.
On the first day of October, the seven-day average was 854, rising to 1,020 by Oct. 10. By Friday, Oct. 16, it hit 1,425, and by Monday, it hit 1,619.
Back on Sept. 21, the seven-day average was 685.
On Aug. 21, that average was 561.
The state has seen nine straight days with more than 1,000 cases, including two over 2,000 days, or 16 consecutive days over 900 cases.
With the increase in cases, the chiefmedical officer at theMichiganDepartment
of Health and Human Services, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, said they are apprehensive about increased hospitalization rates, especially outside of southeastern Michigan.
“We are at a critical time with COVID-19 around the nation and in Michigan,” Khaldun said. “Michigan is not as severe asmany other states but we have many reasons to be concerned.”
She said the case rate, put at 131 per million per day, was 80% higher than a month ago.
Pleased that testing is going up, withMichigan averaging35,300 testsperdayin the past week, the increase in the positivity rate— up to 4.9% compared to between 3 and 4% for much of summer andfall— is a cause for concern.
“That is an indication that we are seeing community spread across the state,” Khaldun said.
Local trends
Southeast Michigan saw large increases in the number of cases on Wednesday, as Oakland County passed the 19,000-mark. In western Michigan, Kent County passed the 12,000-mark in the number of cases with the state’s largest increase of the day.
In the Detroit area, Oakland County added the most new cases, 142 confirmed to push the total to 19,014. With nearly 4,600 probable cases, the county has seen a total of 23,608 cases. Deaths stayed the same at 1,177.
In Macomb County, 138 cases were confirmed to push the total to 16,412.
In Wayne County, not including Detroit, the area added 132 cases to reach 20,689.
In Detroit, another 54 cases were reported for a total of 15,081.
Genesee County added 100 cases to reach 5,222, and Washtenaw County added 102 to reach 4,403.
The most new cases were seen in Kent County with 185 new cases to land at 12,094. Neighboring counties saw smaller increases, with 35 new cases in Ottawa County to reach 4,311 and Kalamazoo County added 34 to reach 3,506.
Dr. Khaldun said the positivity rate in the Kalamazoo area was 6.7%.
InghamCounty added 45 new cases to reach 4,307.
Just to the north, Gratiot County added three cases to reach 359, Isabella County added seven cases to reach 836, and Clare County added two to reach 202.