For the first time in 9 weeks, Michigan has multiple counties at a high COVID-19 Community Level.
Menominee and Dickinson counties in the Upper Peninsula are both a a high level, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, Dec. 15.
The CDC uses Community Levels to determine COVID risk, putting counties in one of three buckets: low (green), medium (yellow) or high (orange).
The CDC recommends masking indoors in public while in counties at a high Community Level, regardless of vaccination status. However, people with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to COVID-19 should still wear a mask regardless of the county, the CDC says.
Here’s the latest map showing the Community Level for each Michigan county. Tap/hover over a county to see details.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Michigan has 36 counties at a medium level and 45 counties at a low Community Level.
Last week, Michigan had 26 counties at medium and 56 at low, with just one county at a high level – Schoolcraft County, which dropped all the way to a low level this week.
The CDC considers cases and hospitalizations when determining COVID risk for an area. The goal is to prevent severe disease and limit strain on hospitals.
For Community Levels, the CDC looks at three factors: 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-plus 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 is assigned a health services area, a larger region that contains at least one hospital. Counties are attributed the metrics for the entire area, weighted based on each county’s population. For example: Monroe County’s health services area also includes the Toledo, Ohio area.)
Here’s more on the latest COVID-19 trends in Michigan.
Michigan is reporting 1,457 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week
COVID-19 cases jumped 9.3% in Michigan this week to 1,457 new, confirmed cases per day.
Cases have risen three consecutive weeks in Michigan. However, COVID levels are still lower than they were from May through September.
Michigan also reported 406 “probable” COVID cases per day this week.
Cases are “confirmed” when there’s a positive result from an NAAT/RT-PCR test. Cases are “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 per week. The department announced 11,918 confirmed and probable cases this week.
Michigan has reported nearly 2.6 million confirmed COVID cases and more than 411,000 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 21st in the U.S. in new cases per capita
Michigan had the 21st-most COVID cases in the U.S. in the past week, accordiing to the New York Times.
States with the highest COVID rates right now are New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois and Nebraska. States with the lowest COVID rates are Alaska, Vermont, Florida, Idaho and Hawaii.
For COVID hospitalizations, Michigan had the 15th-highest rate in the U.S. this week. It also had the fourth-most deaths per capita in the past seven days.
46 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 46 saw an increase in cases this week.
Most of Michigan’s largest counties saw an increase compared to last week. Wayne jumped 8%, Oakland was up 9%, Macomb increased 20%, Kalamazoo jumped 43% and Saginaw increased 13%.
There are some exceptions: Kent dropped 2%, Washtenaw was down 8% and Jackson decreased by 4% compared to last week.
See the database below to search/sort case totals by county. 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.)
15 Michigan counties at highest risk for cases
There are 15 counties at the highest risk level (Level E) for cases, up from 11 counties last week. This is a different metric than the CDC’s calculations, as this one only takes cases into account.
The MDHHS has five risk levels for COVID cases:
- Level A: 7-19 cases per day per million residents
- 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 highest COVID rates per capita this week were Baraga, Menominee, Dickinson, Iron and Macomb counties. Six of the top seven were in the U.P.
Counties with the lowest COVID rates this week were Alcona, Luce, Manistee, Mackinac and Chippewa 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 Dec. 7-13.
The arrows on each county show if new cases this week were 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 12%
Roughly 12 out of every 100 COVID tests reported to the state on Monday, Dec. 12, came back positive.
The positivity rate has hovered between 12% and 13% in the past week.
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 test positivity rates were highest this week in Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Ogemaw and Berrien counties.
Positivity rates were lowest in Keweenaw, Presque Isle, Luce, Ontonagon and Gratiot counties.
To see the COVID test positivity rate for your county, see the searchable table below.
(Can’t see the database? Click here.)
The interactive map below shows the seven-day average testing rate by county. Put your cursor over a county to see details.
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Hospitals treating 1,265 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients
COVID hospitalizations are up 10.5% compared to last week in Michigan. There are 1,265 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients, as of Wednesday, Dec. 14.
That’s the highest number of adult COVID hospitalizations in Michigan in nearly 10 months. But it still pales in comparison to this January, when hospitalizations topped 4,000 most weeks during the initial omicron surge.
Among the 1,265 hospitalized on Wednesday, 161 are in intensive care and 63 are on a ventilator.
Michigan also has 35 children hospitalized with COVID, as of Wednesday.
Michigan is reporting 20 new COVID deaths per day in the past week
Michigan reported 20 COVID deaths per day on average in the past week, down from 26 per day the week before.
During omicron’s peak in January, Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day.
Michigan has had 36,740 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 3,768 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 274 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: 63.9% of residents have received at least one dose
About 63.9% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 59.2% have received the full original regimen and 36.0% have been boosted.
The omicron-specific COVID-19 booster shot is available in Michigan from both Pfizer and Moderna. About 13.9% of residents have received this bivalent booster so far.
Below is a breakdown by age group of Michiganders who’ve gotten at least one shot (initiated), those who have two shots (completed) and those who are considered “up to date” on COVID vaccines, as of Wednesday, Dec. 14.
- 75 and older: 87.4% initiated; 82.5% completed, 32.0% up to date
- 65 to 74: 90.6% initiated; 86.5% completed, 36.0% up to date
- 50 to 64: 77.0% initiated; 72.8% completed, 18.4% up to date
- 40 to 49: 67.9% initiated; 63.1% completed, 10.6% up to date
- 30 to 39: 66.3% initiated; 60.4% completed, 8.8% up to date
- 20 to 29: 56.2% initiated; 50.2% completed, 5.0% up to date
- 16 to 19: 57.0% initiated; 52.2% completed, 4.4% up to date
- 12 to 15: 50.1% initiated; 46.5% completed, 5.8% up to date
- 5 to 11: 30.9% initiated; 28.1% completed, 3.4% up to date
- Younger than 5: 8.8% initiated, 4.5% completed, 2.3% up to date
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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