Michigan added 8,413 cases and 83 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, including cases from Thursday.
The latest figures from the state Department of Health and Human Services push the overall totals to 1,055,424 cases and 21,314 deaths since the virus was first detected in the state in March 2020.
The state averaged 4,205 cases per day over the two days. Of the latest deaths reported, 40 were identified during a vital records review, state health officials noted.
Michigan’s COVID-19 infection numbers have been trending upward for 13 weeks amid concerns over the highly contagious delta variant.
So far this week, the state has added 24,791 cases and 237 deaths.
The latest developments means this week will surpass last week, when the state added 22,524 cases and 214 deaths from the virus, which was an increase from the week prior when the state added 19,344 cases and 201 deaths.
In mid-September, the state added 18,313 cases and 159 deaths from the virus.
The weekly record of 50,892 cases was set Nov. 15-21. The second-highest weekly total was 47,316 Nov. 22-28.
In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, which health experts hope will bolster confidence in vaccinations. About 67.4% of Michigan’s population age 16 and older had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Sept. 22.
State officials have set a goal of reaching 70% and hosted a lottery initiative to give those who received their vaccinations the chance to win cash prizes.
About 52.9% or 5.26 million Michigan residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated.
The state’s fully vaccinated population includes 76% of seniors age 65 and older; 66% of those aged 50-64 years old; 55% of 40-49 years old; 51% of 30-39 years old; 41% of 20-29 years old; 43% of 16-19 years old; and 36% of 12-15 years old.
All Michigan residents should be wearing masks while in public under federal guidelines, the CDC suggests.
In the last 30 days, people who are not fully vaccinated developed COVID-19 at a rate seven times higher than those who are fully vaccinated, “and experienced COVID deaths at a rate 30 times that of fully vaccinated people. Vaccine protection against hospitalization remains strong across different studies and settings,” the department said.
The state health department estimates less than 1% of vaccinated people in Michigan are contracting the virus.
Michigan’s latest data
Michigan has the 27th-lowest case rate and seventh-lowest death rate over the last week in the U.S., according to the CDC’s COVID data tracker.
Statewide positivity has climbed to 10.3% from 8.8% last week, according to data from Oct. 5.
Although case trends may be slowing, the proportion of kids getting sick with COVID-19 is increasing. In Michigan, over 50% of children hospitalized have no reported underlying conditions.
Higher community transmission in Michigan is followed by a higher incidence of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. MIS-C is a condition in children where multiple organ systems become inflamed or dysfunctional. There are 168 cases in the state, the majority are in the ICU. There have been five deaths.
In Michigan, hospitalizations for those 0-17 years have been increasing since July. In the state, more than 50% of children hospitalized from the virus have not reported underlying conditions.
About 99% of positive tests available for sequencing in Michigan were identified as the delta variant over the last four weeks.
Case rates are the highest for those ages 10-19, followed by 30-39; ages 20-29; 40-49; then 0-9.
There were 168 new outbreaks in the past week, up 9% from the week prior.
There were 468 active outbreaks reported last week with 105 new K-12 school outbreaks, up from 98 school outbreaks the week prior. There were 20 outbreaks at long-term care facilities and five in health care centers.
About 43% of school districts have mask policies, covering about 60% of students. Case rates among children are higher in counties where school districts do not have mask policies, according to the state health department.
About 7.4% of hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, up from 7% last week.
As of Friday, 1,585 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 436 in an intensive care unit and 217 other patients on ventilators. The volume of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has increased 6% since last week.
The majority of patients hospitalized from the virus are unvaccinated, the state health department has said.
State health department officials remain cautious as new variants of COVID-19 spread. The variants are identified through target testing and state officials expect there are cases of variants that have not been identified or recorded.
As of Sept. 27, Michigan has more than 17,583 confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants — the majority, or 13,667 cases, being B.1.1.7 or now known as the “Alpha” variant.
The delta variant, being B.1.617.2, is on the rise in Michigan with more than 700 new cases this week. There are a total of 3,492 known cases in the state.
The virus is blamed for more than 701,000 deaths and 43.7 million confirmed infections in the United States.
The state considered 931,115 people recovered from the virus as of Oct. 1.
srahal@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @SarahRahal_