Twice as many Michigan counties are at a high COVID-19 Community Level as last week, according to calculations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC uses Community Levels to determine COVID risk, putting counties in one of three buckets: low, medium or high. Michigan has 18 of its 83 counties in the high-risk bucket (orange), as of Thursday, Sept. 1.
There were just nine counties at a high level last week.
Eight of the 18 high-risk counties this week are in mid-Michigan, including Calhoun, Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Saginaw and Genesee counties. The list also includes three counties in the Thumb (Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac), two in metro Detroit (Macomb, Monroe) and five in the U.P. (Menominee, Dickinson, Iron, Baraga and Ontonagon).
Last week, all of the mid-Michigan and Thumb counties were at a medium or low COVID-19 Community Level.
The CDC recommends masking while indoors in public when counties are at a high Community Level, 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.)
As the map shows, Michigan has 39 counties at a low level (green, an improvement from just 17 last week) and 26 counties at a medium level (yellow, down from 57 last week).
The CDC relaxed its mask guidance in February post-omicron surge, 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.
For Community Levels, 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-plus 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 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 are the latest COVID trends in Michigan.
Michigan is reporting 2,076 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week
New COVID cases are down 9.7% in Michigan this week compared to last week, with 2,076 new, confirmed cases per day.
This is the lowest number of new cases Michigan has had in three weeks.
Michigan also reported 661 “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 19,158 confirmed and probable cases this week.
Michigan has reported 2.4 million confirmed COVID cases and nearly 371,000 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 19th in the U.S. in new cases per capita
Michigan sits 19th in the country for most new COVID cases per capita – the same rank as last week, per the New York Times.
The highest COVID rates this week were in West Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. The states with the lowest COVID rates were Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Utah and New Hampshire.
Michigan ranks 21st this week for most COVID hospitalizations per capita and 13th for most COVID deaths per capita.
5 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 35 had more COVID cases this week compared to last week.
Four small counties saw their weekly cases double this week: Oscoda, Sanilac, Mackinac and Charlevoix counties. On the flip side, Gogebic and Kalkaska saw their cases trimmed in half this week.
Many of Michigan’s large counties saw case declines this week, too. Wayne County dropped 20%, Oakland and Macomb counties dipped 13%, Washtenaw County was down 12% and Kent County dipped 1%.
See the database below to search by county and sort by 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.)
50 Michigan counties at highest risk for cases
There are 50 counties at the highest risk level (Level E) for cases, the same amount 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
Michigan counties with the highest case rates this week were Iron, Sanilac, Huron, Calhoun and Midland counties.
The areas with lowest per capita COVID rates this week were Alcona, Presque Isle, Montmorency, Alpena and Manistee counties, all of which sit in Level C.
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 Aug. 24-30.
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 aren’t 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 20%
Twenty out of every 100 COVID tests reported to the state on Monday, Aug. 29, came back positive.
In the past week, Michigan’s test positivity rate has hovered between 20% and 21%.
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.)
COVID positivity rates were highest this week in Charlevoix, St. Joseph and Hillsdale counties. Rates were lowest in Baraga, Gogebic and Lake counties.
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 details.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Hospitals treating 1,114 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients
About 3.9% fewer adults were in Michigan hospitals with COVID this week versus last week, as there were 1,114 adults in hospitals with confirmed or suspected COVID as of Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Prior to this week, Michigan COVID hospitalizations had increased for eight consecutive weeks, dating back to the first week of July.
Of the 1,114 adults with COVID in hospitals Wednesday, 123 were in intensive care and 50 were on a ventilator.
There were also 47 kids hospitalized with COVID in Michigan as of Wednesday.
Michigan is reporting 14 new COVID deaths per day in the past week
Michigan had roughly 14 COVID deaths per day in the past week, down slightly from 16 per day last week.
The state has hovered between 10 and 20 COVID deaths per day, on average, since early July. During omicron’s peak in January, Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day.
Michigan has had 34,750 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 3,288 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 289 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: 63.4% of residents have received at least one dose
About 63.4% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 58.2% have received the full original regimen and 33.8% have been boosted.
Michigan now looks at the percentage of all residents who’ve gotten a vaccine, as opposed to just those 5 and older.
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. 31:
- 75 and older: 87.2% initiated; 81.2% completed
- 65 to 74: 90.5% initiated; 85.4% completed
- 50 to 64: 76.9% initiated; 72.2% completed
- 40 to 49: 67.6% initiated; 62.4% completed
- 30 to 39: 65.9% initiated; 59.5% completed
- 20 to 29: 55.6% initiated; 49.3% completed
- 16 to 19: 56.5% initiated; 51.5% completed
- 12 to 15: 49.7% initiated; 46.1% completed
- 5 to 11: 30.1% initiated; 27.2% completed
- Younger than 5: 5.6% initiated, 1.1% 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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