Michigan has one county at a high COVID-19 Community Level, 26 at a medium level and 56 at a low level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, Dec. 8.
The CDC uses Community Levels to determine COVID risk, putting counties in one of three buckets: low (green), medium (yellow) or high (orange).
The only county at a high level is Schoolcraft County, in the Upper Peninsula. Last week, the only county at a high level was the U.P.’s Dickinson County.
The CDC recommends masking indoors in public 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.)
The biggest change from last week happened in metro Detroit and Grand Rapids. The following counties were among those that jumped from green to yellow: Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Kent, Barry, Ionia, Montcalm, Mecosta, Newaygo, Muskegon, Oceana and Mason counties.
Last week, Michigan had just 10 counties at a medium level and 72 at a high level.
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 1,333 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week
Confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped 32% in the past week to 1,333 per day in Michigan.
There were no backlogs of cases tacked onto this week’s data, per the state health department, so these numbers are not inflated.
While that’s higher than the past two weeks, it’s still lower than anytime from May through October this year.
Michigan also reported 370 “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 more than 2.5 million confirmed COVID cases and more than 408,000 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 41st in the U.S. in new cases per capita
Despite Michigan’s rise in cases, it ranks 41st in the U.S. in the past two weeks for most cases per capita, per the New York Times.
A handful of states have doubled in cases in the past two weeks. States with the highest COVID rates right now are New York, Arizona, California, New Mexico and New Jersey.
States with the lowest COVID rates in the past two weeks are Alaska, Vermont, Florida, Maine and Washington.
For COVID hospitalizations, Michigan ranks 20th per capita. For COVID deaths per capita, Michigan’s current rate is the highest of all states.
58 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 58 saw an increase in cases this week.
All of Michigan’s largest counties had an increase in cases. Wayne jumped 34%, Oakland 25%, Macomb 27%, Kent 45%, Washtenaw 36%, Kalamazoo 62% and Genesee 40%.
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.)
11 Michigan counties at highest risk for cases
There are 11 counties at the highest risk level (Level E) for cases, up from just two 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 Schoolcraft, Baraga, Ontonagon, Gogebic, Berrien, Macomb, Wayne and Jackson counties.
Counties with the lowest COVID rates this week were Alcona, Luce, Antrim, Arenac and Charlevoix.
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 Nov. 30 to Dec. 6.
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 of every 100 COVID tests reported to the state on Monday, Dec. 5, came back positive.
The positivity rate has hovered between 12% and 14% 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 Oscoda, Luce, Menominee, Manistee and Ontonagon counties.
Rates were lowest in Baraga, Antrim, Alcona, Gratiot and Otsego 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 1,145 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients
COVID hospitalizations are up in Michigan to 1,145, as of Wednesday, Dec. 7. Two weeks ago, there were 925 adults in Michigan hospitals with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.
The current level is the highest mark in five weeks. Yet, adult hospitalizations are nowhere close to last winter, when they topped 4,000 during many weeks of the omicron surge.
Among the 1,145 hospitalized on Wednesday, 140 are in intensive care and 60 are on a ventilator.
Michigan also has 38 children hospitalized with COVID, as of Wednesday.
Michigan is reporting 26 new COVID deaths per day in the past week
Michigan reported an average of 26 COVID deaths per day during the past week, double the rate from a week ago.
During omicron’s peak in January, Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day.
Michigan has had 36,596 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 3,731 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 275 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 35.9% have been boosted.
The omicron-specific COVID-19 booster shot is now available in Michigan from both Pfizer and Moderna. About 13.3% 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. 7.
- 75 and older: 87.3% initiated; 82.5% completed, 31.2% up to date
- 65 to 74: 90.6% initiated; 86.5% completed, 35.1% up to date
- 50 to 64: 77.0% initiated; 72.8% completed, 17.8% up to date
- 40 to 49: 67.9% initiated; 63.0% completed, 10.2% up to date
- 30 to 39: 66.3% initiated; 60.3% completed, 8.5% up to date
- 20 to 29: 56.1% initiated; 50.1% completed, 4.9% up to date
- 16 to 19: 57.0% initiated; 52.1% completed, 4.2% up to date
- 12 to 15: 50.1% initiated; 46.5% completed, 5.6% up to date
- 5 to 11: 30.9% initiated; 28.0% completed, 3.2% up to date
- Younger than 5: 8.7% initiated, 4.4% completed, 4.1% 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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