Masks advised in 7 Michigan counties this week, CDC says

CDC Community Levels, Sept. 22

As of Sept. 22, 2022, Michigan had seven counties at a high CDC COVID-19 Community Level. The map later in the story is interactive.

Michigan has seven counties at a high COVID-19 Community Level this week, according to calculations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That’s down from 14 counties last week.

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 while indoors in public when counties are at a high Community Level, regardless of vaccination status. However, people with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask regardless of where they live, the CDC says.

Michigan’s seven counties at a high COVID-19 Community Level, as of Thursday, Sept. 22, are Macomb, St. Clair, Gratiot and Montcalm, plus three in the U.P.: Delta, Dickinson and Iron counties.

Here’s the latest map showing the Community Level for each Michigan county. Tap or hover over a county to see details.

(Can’t see the map? Click here.)

Michigan has 33 counties at a medium level and 43 counties at a low COVID-19 Community 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 for each county: 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 or more 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 one is assigned a health services area, a geographic region that contains at least one hospital. Counties are attributed the metrics calculated for the entire area, weighted based on each county’s population.)

Here’s more on the state of COVID-19 in Michigan.

Michigan is reporting 1,849 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week

New, confirmed COVID cases dropped 11.7% in Michigan this week, compared to last week, down to 1,849 per day.

Case levels have been fairly consistent in Michigan since mid-July, hovering around the 2,000-case-per-day mark.

Michigan also reported 565 “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 16,901 confirmed and probable cases this week.

Michigan has reported 2.4 million confirmed COVID cases and nearly 382,000 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 7th in the U.S. in new cases per capita

Michigan has the seventh-most COVID cases per capita in the past week of the 50 states, per the New York Times.

The only states with a higher COVID rate this week were Kentucky, North Carolina, New York, West Virginia, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

States with the lowest COVID rates this week were Arizona, Utah, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii and Indiana.

Michigan ranked 12th this week for most COVID hospitalizations per capita and ninth for most COVID deaths per capita.

22 counties saw rise in cases in last seven days

Of Michigan’s 83 counties, just 22 had more cases this week than last week.

Most of Michigan’s larger counties saw case declines this week. Washtenaw County dropped 30%, Ingham County dipped 25% and Kent County declined 21%. Oakland and Wayne counties dipped 8% and 6%, respectively, while Macomb County saw a 3% increase.

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.)

24 Michigan counties at highest risk for cases

There are 24 counties at the highest risk level (Level E) for cases, down from 37 counties last week.

The MDHHS has five risk levels for COVID cases:

  • Level A: 7-19 cases per day per million
  • 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

The counties with the highest COVID rates this week were Keweenaw, Kalamazoo, St. Clair, Macomb, Wayne and Washtenaw counties.

The lowest COVID rates this week were in Presque Isle, Antrim, Benzie, Alcona, Alpena and Baraga 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 Sept. 14-20.

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 16%

On Monday, Sept. 19, about 16% of all COVID tests reported to the state were positive. That’s the lowest rate since early July.

The positivity rate has hovered between 16% and 18% 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.)

Cass, Hillsdale, Luce, Keweenaw and Kalamazoo counties had the highest positivty rates this week. Crawford, Presque Isle and Alger counties were the only ones below 5% for the week.

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 1,112 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients

COVID adult hospitalizations dropped in Michigan by 2.9% this week to 1,112 patients, as of Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Of the 1,112 adults in the hospital with COVID on Wednesday, 135 were in intensive care and 49 were on a ventilator.

There were also 51 kids hospitalized with COVID in Michigan as of Wednesday.

Michigan is reporting 17 new COVID deaths per day in the past week

Last week, Michigan averaged 21 COVID deaths per day – the highest mark since March.

Deaths declined slightly this week, to 17 per day. But it’s still far fewer COVID deaths than Michigan had during omicron’s winter peak. Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day during parts of January.

Michigan has had 35,089 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 3,375 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 286 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: 63.4% of residents have received at least one dose

About 63.4% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 58.4% have received the full original regimen and 34.0% have been boosted.

The omicron-specific COVID-19 booster shot is now available in Michigan from both Pfizer and Moderna. More than 176,000 Michiganders have gotten the bivalent booster so far.

The new shots are authorized for use as a single booster dose, administered at least two months after a previous COVID vaccine. Moderna’s shot is authorized for people 18 and older, while Pfizer’s is for those 12 and older.

Below is a vaccination breakdown by age group of Michiganders who have gotten at least one shot (initiated) and those who are “completed,” meaning two shots of mRNA vaccines or one Johnson & Johnson shot, as of Wednesday, Sept. 21.

  • 75 and older: 87.1% initiated; 81.3% completed
  • 65 to 74: 90.3% initiated; 85.5% completed
  • 50 to 64: 76.9% initiated; 72.3% completed
  • 40 to 49: 67.6% initiated; 62.4% completed
  • 30 to 39: 65.9% initiated; 59.6% completed
  • 20 to 29: 55.6% initiated; 49.4% completed
  • 16 to 19: 56.6% initiated; 51.7% completed
  • 12 to 15: 49.8% initiated; 46.2% completed
  • 5 to 11: 30.3% initiated; 27.4% completed
  • Younger than 5: 6.4% initiated, 1.7% completed

Below is a chart that ranks counties from most vaccinated to least vaccinated.

(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)

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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