Nearly a million Michigan households lose power -- Why does this keep happening?
Nearly one million Michigan households were without power Thursday after severe storms blew through the Midwest.
Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois all saw outages, but Michigan seems to have been hit the hardest, having more than 10 times the outages than the other states.
Why does this keep happening?
🐶 10 things to do this weekend in Metro Detroit
Census: Big population drops in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, most of Metro Detroit grows
Figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau showed some of Michigan’s largest percentage population losses were in the state’s Upper Peninsula, while three of the state’s four most populous counties gained people.
The U.P. for years has struggled through job losses tied to downturns in the manufacturing and mining industries.
Census figures released in April showed that, as a whole, Michigan grew slightly in population to 10,077,331 in 2020, but the increase was not enough to stop the state from losing a U.S. House seat.
⚡️ Tracking DTE Energy power outages: More than 252K customers in the dark
DTE Energy: 95% of power outages to be restored by Sunday night
With DTE crews working to bring back power to hundreds of thousands of customers still in the dark, the company said about 95% of outages are expected to be restored by the end of Sunday.
As of 9:57 a.m. on Aug. 13, more than 252,000 customers were without power following Wednesday night storms. Power for more than 150,000 customers was restored by Thursday night.
🚨 Video: Officers chase man who sped off in Dearborn police vehicle
Weekend construction to close several roads, freeways across Metro Detroit
Road work will cause several road and freeway closures this weekend across Metro Detroit.
See a list of weekend road closures here.
Extra COVID vaccine OK’d for those with weak immune systems
U.S. regulators on Thursday said transplant recipients and others with severely weakened immune systems can get an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to better protect them as the delta variant continues to surge.
The late-night announcement by the Food and Drug Administration applies to several million Americans who are especially vulnerable because of organ transplants, certain cancers or other disorders. Several other countries, including France and Israel, have similar recommendations.
☠️ Five fatal Friday the 13th occurrences
Weather: Muggy today with heat relief this weekend
COVID in Michigan 💉
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 916,006 as of Wednesday, including 19,982 deaths, state officials report.
Wednesday’s update includes a total of 2,786 new cases and 24 additional deaths over a two-day period -- an average of 1,393 cases per day. Of the 24 deaths announced Wednesday, 12 were identified during a review of records.
On Monday, the state announced a total of 913,220 cases and 19,958 deaths.
Michigan is now reporting COVID-19 data on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The next update is expected this afternoon.
Testing has dropped to around 10,000 diagnostic tests reported per day on average, with the 7-day positive rate at 6.93% as of Wednesday, slightly higher than the previous week. The positive test rate has been steadily climbing since the end of June, when it was at its lowest. Hospitalizations have been slowly increasing for the last two weeks.
Cases are rising again in Michigan. The state’s 7-day moving average for daily cases was 1,164 on Wednesday -- a significant jump since the beginning of July. The 7-day death average was 4 on Wednesday. The state’s fatality rate is 2.2%. The state also reports “active cases,” which were listed at 21,900 on Wednesday.
Michigan has reported more than 9.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered as of Tuesday, with 64.3% of 16+ residents having received at least one dose while 56.1% of 16+ residents are considered fully vaccinated.
Here’s a look at more of the data: