LANSING, Mich. – As the total number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases sharply rises throughout Michigan, the state’s top medical official revealed concerning trends in a region-by-region breakdown.
The case rate in Michigan as a whole is at 131 cases per million people per day, which more than 80% higher than it was a month ago, according to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun.
Recommended Videos
Michigan’s top doctor: In restaurants, wear mask until putting food in mouth, limit talking
“We’re doing well with testing,” Khaldun said. “We’re at 35,300 tests per day over the past week.”
But the percentage of those tests that come back positive has risen sharply -- up to 4.9%, according to Khaldun.
“That’s an indication that we are seeing community spread across the state,” she said.
The highest case rate is currently in the Upper Peninsula, where officials are reporting 337 positive cases per million people per day, with a test positivity rate of 9.3%, Khaldun said.
In the Kalamazoo Region, officials said there are 211 positive cases per million people per day and a 6.7% positivity rate.
The Grand Rapids Region is at 155 cases per million people per day and 4.6% positivity, Khaldun said.
She said the Detroit, Saginaw, Lansing and Jackson regions are all between 70 and 150 cases per million people per day with positivity rates between 2.6% and 4.4%.
Michigan’s lowest case rate is in the Traverse City Region, where officials report 62 cases per million people per day and a positivity rate of 3%, according to Khaldun. Both the case rate and the test positivity rate are increasing over the past two weeks in that ration, however.
“All regions of the state, as the governor mentioned, have seen an increase in hospitalizations over the past three weeks.” Khaldun said.
Of those hospitalizations, 58% are outside Southeast Michigan, she said. On average, 8% of inpatient hospitalizations statewide are for COVID-19, according to Khaldun.
One month ago, Michigan’s seven-day average of daily COVID-19 deaths was around nine. As of Oct. 18, that number had risen to 15, officials said.
More coverage
Here’s much more previous coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whitmer’s handling of pandemic:
Reopening Michigan:
Health questions, advice:
Vaccines:
Outbreaks:
Unemployment:
Individual stories:
Changes: