St. Joseph County's COVID cases up 35.8%; Michigan cases surge 80.6%

Mike Stucka
·3 min read
Without a flinch Evan Abbott, 9, gets a COVID-19 vaccination from Oakland County Health Department nurse Deb Collins during a Nov. 22 clinic at Lakeland High School in White Lake, Michigan. (John Heider, hometownlife.com)

New coronavirus cases leaped in Michigan in the week ending Sunday, rising 80.6% as 70,095 cases were reported. The previous week had 38,811 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

St. Joseph County reported 360 cases and four deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 265 cases and four deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 10,047 cases and 136 deaths.

Michigan ranked third among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 67.6% from the week before, with 843,458 cases reported. With 3% of the country's population, Michigan had 8.31% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 48 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Thanksgiving significantly disrupted who got tested, how many people got tested, what labs operated and what government agencies reported on time. Some governments reported three days of data for Thanksgiving week; some reported none. The reporting of many cases and deaths were shifted from Thanksgiving's week into last week, making Thanksgiving week artificially low and the latest week artificially high, skewing the week-to-week comparison. These numbers are unreliable even as they're accurate to what states reported.

Within Michigan, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Schoolcraft County with 1,186 cases per 100,000 per week; Keweenaw County with 1,134; and Shiawassee County with 1,077. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Wayne County, with 10,512 cases; Oakland County, with 8,335 cases; and Macomb County, with 6,723. Weekly case counts rose in 82 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Michigan ranked 34th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 60% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 68.8%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.

In the week ending Thursday, Michigan reported administering another 387,714 vaccine doses, including 110,471 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 231,506 vaccine doses, including 46,715 first doses. In all, Michigan reported it has administered 12,261,664 total doses.

In Michigan, 864 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 403 people were reported dead.

A total of 1,517,325 people in Michigan have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 26,108 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 49,085,361 people have tested positive and 788,363 people have died.

Note: In the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus data, cases and deaths for the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Federal Correctional Institution separately from Michigan counties.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Michigan's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Dec. 5.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 4,150

  • The week before that: 3,764

  • Four weeks ago: 2,426

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 88,233

  • The week before that: 76,364

  • Four weeks ago: 68,138

Hospitals in 33 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 28 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 45 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: St. Joseph County COVID cases increased by 360 this week