Michigan now has 18 of its 83 counties at a high COVID-19 Community Level, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from Thursday, Aug. 4.
Last week, Michigan had 12 counties at a high level.
The CDC uses calculations called Community Levels to determine COVID risk. It puts counties in one of three buckets: low, medium or high.
The 18 counties at a high level this week include five in Southeast Michigan (Monroe, Wayne, Washtenaw, Macomb and Oakland), two in Southwest Michigan (Calhoun and Kalamazoo), three in northern Lower Michigan (Oceana, Mason and Kalkaska) and eight in the U.P. (Luce, Menominee, Dickinson, Marquette, Iron, Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw).
When counties are at a high level (orange), the CDC recommends masking while indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status.
However, people with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask regardless of where they live, the CDC says.
Here’s the latest map showing the Community Level for each Michigan county. Tap on or hover over a county to see details.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Michigan has 35 counties at a medium Community Level (yellow) and 30 counties at a low level (green).
While Michigan is slowly turning oranger on the map each week, it’s still faring better than Ohio and Indiana. Those two states are mostly orange, and have a combined seven counties at a low level.
When it was clear the winter omicron swell subsided, the CDC relaxed its mask guidance in February, shifting from looking at cases and positive tests to looking at cases and hospitalizations. The idea is to prevent severe disease and limit strain on hospitals.
The CDC looks at three factors for each county: the percentage of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID patients, COVID hospital admissions per capita and COVID cases per capita.
A county is at a high level when there are 200 or more new cases per 100,000 in the past week and either (a) 10 or more new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or (b) when at least 10% of the staffed inpatient beds are occupied by COVID patients.
If hospitalizations are particularly high, even a county with low cases can be at a high Community Level, per the CDC formula.
(Not every county has a hospital, so each one is assigned a health services area, a geographic region that contains at least one hospital. Counties are attributed the metrics calculated for the entire area, weighted based on each county’s population.)
Here’s more on the latest COVID trends in Michigan.
Michigan is reporting 2,512 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week
New, confirmed COVID cases are up for the fourth consecutive week in Michigan, as the state is reporting 2,512 new cases per day from the past week.
That’s a 6.0% increase in cases compared to last week. Cases haven’t been this high in Michigan since late May.
Michigan also reported 370 “probable” COVID cases per day this week.
Cases are considered “confirmed” when there’s a positive result from an NAAT/RT-PCR test. Cases are considered “probable” when there’s a reported antigen (rapid) test or if somebody has symptoms and was exposed to a person with COVID-19.
All graphics in this story except the initial one (which uses CDC case calculations) are based only on “confirmed” numbers.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reports COVID cases once weekly. The department announced 20,173 confirmed and probable cases this week.
Michigan has reported 2.3 million confirmed COVID cases and more than 356,000 probable cases since the pandemic began.
The chart below shows the seven-day average for new, confirmed COVID cases throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Michigan ranks 33rd in the U.S. in new cases per capita
Michigan has the 33rd-most new COVID cases per capita this week of the 50 U.S. states. Last week, Michigan ranked 36th on the New York Times list.
States with the highest COVID rates this week are Alaska, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. States with the lowest COVID rates are Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Nevada and Connecticut.
Michigan ranks 35th for most hospitalizations per capita this week and 18th for most new deaths per capita.
47 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 47 had more COVID cases this week than last week.
The small counties of Presque Isle, Luce, Alger and Ontonagon all doubled in cases or more this week, compared to the week prior.
Most of Michigan’s larger counties saw an increase this week. Wayne is up 14%, Oakland is up 6%, Macomb is up 5%, Washtenaw jumped 10%, Kalamazoo is up 5% and Genesee jumped 15%. Kent County is an outlier, as it saw a 14% decrease in cases this week.
See the database below to search by county and sort by which had the most/fewest cases. The chart also shows the percent change from week to week and the seven-day case average per capita.
(Can’t see the database? Click here.)
57 Michigan counties at highest risk for cases
There are 57 counties at the highest risk level (Level E) for cases, the same number as last week.
The MDHHS has five risk levels for COVID cases:
- Level A: 7-19 cases per day per million
- Level B: 20-39 cases per day per million
- Level C: 40-69 cases per day per million
- Level D: 70-149 cases per day per million
- Level E: 150+ cases per day per million
Counties with the most COVID cases per capita this week were Ontonagon, Keweenaw, Oceana, Gogebic, Iron, Kalamazoo and Washtenaw counties.
The lowest COVID rates are mostly in northeast Lower Michigan: Alcona, Presque Isle, Chippewa, Oscoda and Alpena counties.
The map below is shaded by the state’s six risk-assessment levels from A to E. This is based on new cases reported per day per million people from July 27 to Aug. 2.
The arrows on each county show if new cases this week are up or down compared to the previous week. Put your cursor over a county to see the underlying data. (Hint: Drag the map with your cursor to see the entire U.P.)
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
COVID case totals don’t tell the whole story. At-home tests are not reported, so those are not included in the data. That’s why it’s also key to look at percent positivity of reported tests and data on hospitalizations and deaths.
Average test positivity is 21%
On Monday, Aug. 1, roughly 21 out of every 100 COVID tests reported in Michigan were positive. The percent positivity rate has hovered between 18% and 23% this week.
The last time Michigan had a day with the percent positivity at 23% or higher was Jan. 30 – more than six months ago.
The World Health Organization considers there to be a substantial level community transmission when positivity rates are above 5%.
Michigan’s rate peaked at 35% in January. It dipped as low as 2% in early March before climbing again.
The graph below shows the percentage of COVID-19 tests reported that came back positive throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Where are the percent positivity rates highest this week? Luce County has a 41.4% positivity rate, Hillsdale County has 34.6% of tests coming back positive and Ontonagon has a 29.0% rate.
Alcona County has the lowest percent positivity rate this week, at 6.7%. All others are above 8%.
Check out the positivity percentage for all 83 counties from the past two weeks in the table below.
(Can’t see the database? Click here.)
The interactive map below shows the seven-day average testing rate by county. You can put your cursor over a county to see the underlying data.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Hospitals treating 1,100 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients
Adult COVID hospitalizations increased 16.0% this week in Michigan.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 3, there were 1,100 hospitalized adults in Michigan who had COVID. Last week, there were 948.
That 1,100 is the most COVID patients Michigan has seen since late February. Hospitalizations have been on the rise five weeks in a row in the state.
Of the 1,100 hospitalizations on Wednesday, 132 were in intensive care and 48 were on a ventilator.
There were also 35 kids in the hospital on Wednesday with COVID.
Michigan is reporting 12 new COVID deaths per day in the past week
Michigan averaged 12 confirmed COVID deaths per day this week, down from 13 per day last week.
During omicron’s peak in January, Michigan was averaging up to 115 COVID deaths per day.
Michigan has had 34,340 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 3,194 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 293 Michigan residents have died from confirmed COVID.
Below is a chart illustrating the seven-day average for reported deaths throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Vaccinations: 63.1% of residents have received at least one dose
About 63.1% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 57.8% have received the full original regimen and 33.4% have been boosted.
Michigan now looks at the percentage of all residents who’ve gotten a vaccine, as opposed to just considering the percentage of people 5 and older who’ve gotten shots.
Everybody 6 months and older is now eligible for COVID vaccines.
Health officials urge eligible people to get booster shots at least five months after the second Pfizer/Moderna shot or at least two months after the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. (Federal officials recommend an mRNA shot after the Johnson & Johnson.)
Below is a vaccination breakdown by age group of Michiganders who have gotten at least one shot (initiated) and those who are “completed,” meaning two shots of mRNA vaccines or one Johnson & Johnson shot, as of Wednesday, Aug. 3:
- 75 and older: 87.1% initiated; 80.4% completed
- 65 to 74: 90.4% initiated; 84.6% completed
- 50 to 64: 76.8% initiated; 71.9% completed
- 40 to 49: 67.5% initiated; 62.1% completed
- 30 to 39: 65.7% initiated; 59.2% completed
- 20 to 29: 55.3% initiated; 49.0% completed
- 16 to 19: 56.1% initiated; 51.1% completed
- 12 to 15: 49.4% initiated; 45.8% completed
- 5 to 11: 29.6% initiated; 26.7% completed
- Younger than 5: 3.7% initiated, 1.3% completed
Below is a chart that ranks counties from most vaccinated to least vaccinated.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
For more statewide data, visit MLive’s coronavirus data page.
To find a testing site near you, check out the state’s online test find send an email to COVID19@michigan.gov, or call 888-535-6136 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.
If you have any COVID-19 questions, please submit them to covidquestions@mlive.com to be considered for future MLive reporting.
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