Michigan has zero counties at a high COVID-19 Community Level this week, three counties at a medium level and 80 counties at a low level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, Feb. 2.
The three counties at a medium level are Monroe, St. Clair and Sanilac counties.
Last week, 82 of Michigan’s 83 counties were at a low level, with only Monroe County at a medium level.
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 indoors in public while in counties at a high Community Level, regardless of vaccination status. However, people with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to COVID-19 should still wear a mask regardless of the county, the CDC says.
Michigan isn’t alone in having most of its counties in the green, this week. The nearest high-risk county is 150 miles from the Michigan border in Wayne County, Indiana.
Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa also don’t have any high-risk counties this week.
The CDC considers cases and hospitalizations when determining Community Levels. The goal is to prevent severe disease and limit strain on hospitals.
For hospitalizations, the CDC looks at three pieces: 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-plus new cases per 100,000 for the week and either (A) 10-plus new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or (B) 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 is assigned a health services area, a larger region that contains at least one hospital. Counties are attributed the metrics for the entire area, weighted based on each county’s population. For example: Monroe County’s health services area also includes the Toledo, Ohio area.)
Here’s more on the latest COVID-19 trends in Michigan.
Michigan is reporting 622 new, confirmed cases per day in the past week
COVID cases in Michigan continue to decline, with the state reporting 622 per day, on average, during the past week.
That’s down 5.0% from last week. It’s the lowest case rate in Michigan since July 2021, more than 18 months ago.
Cases peaked in January 2022 at the start of the omicron wave, with Michigan averaging 17,595 cases per day at one point.
In addition to the 622 confirmed cases per day, Michigan also reported 239 “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. There were 6,027 confirmed and probable cases this week.
Michigan has reported more than 2.6 million confirmed COVID cases and nearly 430,000 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 38th in the U.S. in new cases per capita
Michigan had the 38th-most COVID cases per capita in the past week of the 50 U.S. states, per the New York Times.
States with the highest case rates this week were Kentucky, Rhode Island, Alabama, New Jersey and Mississippi. States with the lowest case rates were Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nebraska and Arizona.
For COVID hospitalizations this week, Michigan had the 31st-most per capita. For COVID deaths per capita, Michigan had the second-most this week, trailing only Massachusetts.
Hospitals treating 694 confirmed or suspected adult COVID-19 patients
Michigan had 694 adults in hospitals with confirmed/suspected COVID on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
That’s down 15.1% from last week.
The last time COVID hospitalizations were this low in Michigan was June 30, 2022. A month ago, Michigan had twice as many adults hospitalizated with COVID.
In January 2022, COVID hospitalizations topped 4,000 most weeks.
Among the 694 adults with COVID in hospitals on Wednesday, 92 were in intensive care and 18 were on a ventilator.
Michigan also had 12 children hospitalized with confirmed/suspected COVID as of Wednesday.
Michigan is reporting 29 new COVID deaths per day in the past week
Michigan averaged 29 COVID deaths per day in the past week, the second-highest mark since mid-March 2022.
Deaths were up slightly from the week prior, when about 28 people died from COVID per day.
During omicron’s peak last January, Michigan was averaging more than 100 COVID deaths per day.
Michigan has had 37,676 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 4,014 probable COVID deaths since the pandemic began. Put another way, roughly one in every 266 Michigan residents have died from confirmed COVID.
The chart below shows the seven-day average for COVID deaths throughout the pandemic.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Vaccinations: 64.0% of residents have received at least one dose
About 64.0% of Michigan residents have gotten at least one COVID shot, 59.4% have received the full original regimen and 36.4% have been boosted.
The omicron-specific COVID-19 booster is available in Michigan from both Pfizer and Moderna. About 15.7% of residents have received this bivalent booster so far.
Below is a breakdown by age group of Michiganders who’ve gotten at least one shot (initiated), those who have two shots (completed) and those who are considered “up to date” on COVID vaccines, as of Wednesday, Feb. 1.
- 75 and older: 87.4% initiated; 82.6% completed, 35.4% up to date
- 65 to 74: 90.6% initiated; 86.6% completed, 40.0% up to date
- 50 to 64: 77.1% initiated; 72.9% completed, 21.2% up to date
- 40 to 49: 67.9% initiated; 63.2% completed, 12.3% up to date
- 30 to 39: 66.4% initiated; 60.6% completed, 10.1% up to date
- 20 to 29: 56.3% initiated; 50.4% completed, 6.0% up to date
- 16 to 19: 57.2% initiated; 52.3% completed, 5.9% up to date
- 12 to 15: 50.2% initiated; 46.7% completed, 7.2% up to date
- 5 to 11: 31.1% initiated; 28.3% completed, 4.7% up to date
- Younger than 5: 9.5% initiated, 5.3% completed, 3.2% up to date
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.
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