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Michigan’s top medical official updates how COVID-19 cases are trending in all 8 regions

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun says Detroit Region still has highest case rates

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, of MDHHS, at the governor's coronavirus (COVID-19) briefing on Aug. 25, 2020. (WDIV)

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan’s top medical official provided an update on how all eight of the state’s geographical regions are trending in terms of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases during Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Tuesday briefing.

READ: Whitmer ‘not going to be bullied’ into reopening businesses that are still closed

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Dr. Joneigh Khaldun broke down how each region is trending in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases per million people per day. Her numbers are as of Friday (Aug. 21), she said.

Numbers by region

For the second week in a row, Khaldun said the Detroit Region has the highest case rate, at 69 cases per million people per day. The trend has been decreasing over the past week, she said.

The Upper Peninsula and Saginaw Region are at 57 cases per million people per day, Khaldun said. The Upper Peninsula has seen a decrease in case rate over the past week, while the Saginaw Region’s has increased.

In the Kalamazoo Region, officials are reporting 53 cases per million people per day. The trend is decreasing over the past two weeks, according to Khaldun.

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The Grand Rapids Region is at 40 cases per million people per day. The trend has been decreasing over the past two weeks, Khaldun said.

She said the Traverse City Region is at 32 cases per million people per day. That region has seen an increase over the past two weeks.

The lowest case rates in the state are in the Jackson and Lansing regions, which are both around 25 cases per million people per day, Khaldun said. Both regions have seen decreases over the last week or two, she said.

Khaldun also said that overall, 3.3% of tests are coming back positive in the state. That number is holding steady, but she would like to see it drop below 3%, she said.

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State officials are also investigating 70 new COVID-19 outbreaks from the last week.

Last week

If you want to compare this week’s case rates by region with the ones Khaldun reported last week, here are the numbers from Wednesday (Aug. 19).

Last week, Khaldun said the Detroit Region was at 61 cases per million people per day, but it was largely driven by counties outside of Detroit.

The Saginaw Region was the second highest at 54 cases per million people per day. This region was seeing a slight increase in case rate over the prior week, Khaldun said.

Despite seeing a decline over the previous two weeks, the Kalamazoo Region had the third-highest case rate, at 50 cases per million people per day, she said.

The Upper Peninsula was at 47 cases per million people per day -- a slight decrease over the previous week, Khaldun said.

The Grand Rapids Region saw a slight decrease over the previous two weeks and was at 34 cases per million people per day at the end of last week, she said.

Khaldun lumped the Traverse City, Jackson and Lansing regions together Wednesday, saying they were all between 20-30 cases per million people per day. The Jackson and Lansing regions were in the midst of recent decreases, while the Traverse City Region was seeing a slight increase, she said.

More coverage

Here’s much more recent coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitmer’s handling of pandemic:

Reopening Michigan:

Health questions, advice:

Vaccines:

Outbreaks:

Unemployment:

Individual stories:

Changes:


About the Author
Derick Hutchinson headshot

Derick is the Lead Digital Editor for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.

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