Michigan is in the beginning of a third wave of COVID-19.
Three primary measures of the pandemic have been getting worse for more than three weeks now. The daily average of new cases of COVID-19 have doubled. Positivity rates have as well. And the number of people being hospitalized for COVID-19 is steadily increasing.
The only measure of the pandemic that isn’t getting worse is deaths from the coronavirus. In fact, state health officials reported no new deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday. That hasn’t happened since last summer.
The relatively low death numbers is a source of hope for health officials – and it’s not the only one.
People over age 60 are being less effected by the rising infection rates. During previous waves of the pandemic, that group was much more likely to be harmed or killed by infections.
While hospitalizations are rising, they aren’t rising as quickly as they did in the fall of last year.
All three factors are likely affected by the rising rates of vaccination in the state. As of Wednesday, more than a quarter of adults in Michigan had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Health officials are still worried. More contagious variants of the coronavirus are becoming more prevalent in the state. And vaccines are far from reaching everyone who needs one.
“The question is can we dance with the virus or is it going to spike and start to fill up the hospitals again,” said Calhoun County health officer Eric Pessell in an interview with Bridge Michigan.
You can read more here.
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