Guests at the Oakland Together COVID-19 Tribute Walk at Waterford Oaks County Park in Waterford Township are encouraged to write the names of loved ones lost to COVID-19 on a large yellow heart with black ribbon, and stories of small acts of kindness that helped them get through the pandemic on a large green heart. The memorial opened to invited guests March 10, the one year anniversary of the first known case of COVID-19 in Michigan. (Andrew Roth | Michigan Advance)
Coronavirus cases are continuing an uptick in Michigan with 14,323 new cases recorded in a weekly report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services released Tuesday.
Cases increased compared to the last report released on Dec. 13, which documented 13,043 new cases for the week.
The department reports a total of 2,977,727 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. In total, 40,657 people have died from the virus with 149 deaths reported on Tuesday compared to 181 the week prior.
The virus has been detected in all of Michigan’s 83 counties. The state’s COVID-19 fatality rate is at 1.4% as of Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, the state reported a total of 1,338 COVID-19 hospitalizations across Michigan hospitals, an increase of 151 from the previous week. One-hundred-fifty patients were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), which is up from 133 last week.
As home testing increased during the last year, experts note some cases are not being recorded.
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.
The community risk level for Michigan remains at “medium” following its increase from “low” last week.
There are two counties at “high” risk level, Menominee and Dickinson Counties, which border Wisconsin in the Upper Peninsula.
There are 36 counties across the state at “medium” risk level, an increase of 10 since last week. The remaining 45 counties are at a “low” risk level.
Johns Hopkins University reports that there are about 654 million confirmed cases worldwide and 6.6 million deaths. The United States makes up a significant portion of those, as 99.9 million confirmed cases and 1,087,812 deaths have been recorded nationally.
Michigan currently has an overall vaccination rate (one or more doses) of 69.2%, putting it in the lower half of state vaccination rates. About 62% of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated.
About 80% of the entire United States population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
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