Michigan reports more COVID cases than any other state over the last week 

The state’s COVID numbers continue to soar in what has become the fourth surge of the pandemic, with Michigan reporting more cases than any other state in the country over the past week, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported.

State health officials said Wednesday that a total of 1,224,273 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 23,104 have died from the virus — an additional 14,561 cases and 242 deaths since Monday.

The new numbers from the DHHS combine Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s recorded cases and deaths, with an average of 7,281 new confirmed cases per day.

The deaths announced Wednesday include 177 deaths identified during a vital records review. DHHS conducts this review process two times per week.

DHHS also reports that an additional 163,665 Michiganders have been identified as “probable” cases for COVID-19, as well as 1,580 probable deaths. The department began tracking probable cases on April 5, 2020.

Combining the state’s confirmed positive cases with probable cases brings the total up to 1,387,938 statewide cases and 24,684 deaths.

In the past seven days, no state has reported more cases than Michigan; last week, Michigan was the second-highest in the country, the DHHS said Tuesday. Cases among Michigan children under the age of 12 have also skyrocketed, jumping 26% since last week, according to state health officials.

COVID death rates have fallen slightly over the past week, but the percent of inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients has increased for the 17th week in a row and was up 11.6% over last week, the DHHS reported.

The virus has been detected in all of Michigan’s 83 counties. The state’s COVID-19 fatality rate is currently at 1.9%.

As of Nov. 5, the state reports that 1,026,195 people have recovered from COVID-19.

The first two cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state on March 10, 2020. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency that day.

Johns Hopkins University reports that there are about 254.8 million confirmed cases worldwide and 5.1 million deaths. The United States makes up a significant portion of those, as 47.3 million confirmed cases and 767,152 deaths have been recorded nationally.