Almost 500 new cases reported

Michigan crossed the 50,000-case threshold Friday for infections related to the coronavirus.

On Friday afternoon, the death total rose to 4,825, along with 50,079 cases overall. Infections rose 1 percent from Thursday.

There were 497 new cases reported Friday with 38 new deaths. Last Friday, May 8, the state reported 680 cases and 50 deaths.

Tally of new cases

Detroit added 66 new cases and the rest of the county added 46 new cases. Detroit added 4 new deaths and the rest of Wayne County added 5 new deaths on Friday.

Oakland County added 42 new cases and 8 deaths.

Macomb County added 42 new cases and 1 death.

Where we stand now

Overall, Detroit is still the community with the most cases, crossing the 10,200-case threshold with 10,230 cases and 1,240 deaths. Wayne County has 8,652 cases and 952 deaths.

Oakland County has 7,994 cases and 896 deaths.

Macomb County has 6,274 cases and 729 deaths.

Genesee County has 1,835 cases and 229 deaths.

Washtenaw County has 1,236 cases and 87 deaths.

The Michigan prison system crossed the 2,200-case threshold with 2,227 cases and 56 deaths.

In mid-Michigan, Isabella County has 62 cases and 7 deaths, Clare County has 14 cases and 2 deaths and Gratiot County has 35 cases and 4 deaths.

Notable developments: Kent County crossed the 2,700-case threshold with 2,705 cases and Ottawa County crossed the 500case threshold with 501 cases.

Breaking down data

Health officials have also been tracking results of statewide testing. On Wednesday, the latest data available, there were 2,531 positive results for the COVID-19 virus, or 10.7%, from 23,647 total specimens tested.

Overall, the coronavirus remains deadliest to older people, especially men.

The average age of those killed is 75.3 years old and the median age of those killed is 77. While men make up 46 percent of overall cases, they make up 53 percent of those killed. Those 80 and older make up 42 percent of deaths. Those aged 7079 make up 27 percent of deaths and those aged 6069 years old make up 18 percent.

New developments

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday the creation of the Return to Learning Advisory Council, formalizing a process for determining how schools may be able to reopen in the fall. The panel will be comprised of students, parents, frontline educators, administrators and public health officials. It will be tasked with providing the COVID-19 Task Force on Education within the State Emergency Operations Center with recommendations on how to safely and efficiently return to school in the fall.

The State Emergency Operations Center reported that the case count released Thursday is a significant increase over reports from previous days, due to backlogged results being reported electronically into the Michigan Disease Surveillance System and increased testing at correctional facilities.

The backlog in reporting did not result in delays of notification to individuals with positive results as those results were transmitted separately to health care providers.

Disease in context

Worldwide, the number of deaths topped 305,395, and the number of cases is over 4.5 million, according to coronavirus researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom all have more than 27,000 deaths.

In the United States, the total number of confirmed cases has topped 1.4 million, standing Thursday at 1,429,990 total cases with 86,744 deaths.

There have been approximately 10 million tests conducted in the U.S. Michigan ranks 8th on the list with 335,883 tested, well behind New York’s 1,298,757 and California’s 1,104,651.