Michigan COVID-19 deaths spike to 200+ in a day

As of Friday 1,281 people have now died of COVID-19 in Michigan. That was the biggest one-day jump the state has seen with 205 new deaths. There were 1,076 deaths on Thursday.

A statewide coronavirus hotline is open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1-888-535-6136. Information can be found on the DHHS website or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention website.

There are now 22,783 positive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by a new coronavirus, as of Friday, although state officials believe the actual number of cases is much higher. There were 21,504 cases on Thursday. 

The virus spread to 74 of Michigan’s 83 counties, two more than were reported Thursday. Deaths have occurred in 46 counties.

Southeast Michigan remains the hot spot. Detroit, the only city with its own health department, has 6,218 cases and 327 deaths. The rest of Wayne County has 4,321 cases and 282 deaths. Macomb County reports 2,973 cases and 197 deaths and Oakland County reports 4,511 cases and 282 deaths.

The state Department of Corrections (DOC) reports 335 cases in prisons and five deaths.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended and expanded the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order on Thursday, despite many Republicans in the Legislature criticizing the move.

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With growing complaints and calls to reopen some businesses from organizations like Michigan Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Whitmer is standing firm on her resolve to keep up social distancing and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

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Wednesday saw a decrease in the number of daily new cases at 1,376, the lowest it had been since March 31. However, testing itself was the lowest it had been since March 29. For example, on Tuesday there were 1,462 people tested, but only 965 on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, 29.1% of COVID-19 tests in Michigan resulted in a positive.

The new state-reported numbers only recently began incorporating data from other commercial and private labs and hospitals around Michigan, which caused an apparent spike in numbers that speaks more to the number of cases just now being publicly reported.

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The first two cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state on March 10. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency that day.

Johns Hopkins University reports that there are 1,650,210 confirmed cases worldwide and 100,376 deaths. In the United States, there are 475,749 confirmed cases and 17,925 deaths and 26,645 people who have recovered.