Infections jump by nearly 450
State has added nearly 4,000 cases this month
Michigan added 446 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, one day after seeing a seven-week high 610 cases.
The three-day total adds 1,510 cases to Michigan’s caseload, leaving Michigan with 67,683 confirmed cases. With only nine deaths reported Thursday, the state has a total of 6,024.
So far in July, Michigan has added 3,813 new cases, while for first nine days of June, the state added only 1,710.
Michigan continues to rank 12th in the nation, now behind Louisiana, which has passed Maryland, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Overall, the U.S. had 3.08 million cases on Thursday afternoon with nearly 133,000 deaths.
Worldwide, 12.12 million cases have been confirmed with more than 551,000 deaths reported.
Where the new cases are
Kent County in west Michigan again had the most new coronavirus cases in the state, adding 106 new infections to reach 5,120. Deaths have been low in the county that holds Grand Rapids, though, adding no new fatalities.
Kent County had previously led the state in new
cases on Tuesday. Also in western Michigan, Ottawa County saw an increase by 22 cases to reach 1,122 and Kalamazoo County added 14 cases to hit 1,095.
Next up in new cases was Oakland County, which saw an increase in 79 confirmed cases to reach 9,323, with one new death pushing the total to 886 deaths from confirmed cases. The county also has 3,165 probable cases and 42 probable deaths listed.
Wayne County, excluding Detroit, added 54 cases to reach 10,806 confirmed cases with 1,174, also up by one.
Macomb County moved to 7,443 confirmed cases, up 39 day-over-day, while the number of deaths did not change.
And Detroit, the state’s hardest-hit community, added 35 cases to hit 11,840 confirmed cases. Deaths also stayed the same at 1,449.
Also in southeastern Michigan, Washtenaw County added 21 cases to reach 1,609.
In mid-Michigan, Ingham County moved up by 13 to 1,096 cases, adding one death for a total of 30. Saginaw County added 10 cases to reach 1,302.
To the north of Lansing, Isabella County added six confirmed cases and was at 122 on Thursday afternoon, while Gratiot County added five cases to reach 95. Clare County stayed the same at 31 confirmed cases.
‘Mask-up, Michigan’
The message from the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer continued on Thursday to be that people in Michigan should wear face masks in public to help slow the spread of the COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
This comes as the World Health Organization is considering the possibility — pushed by more than 200 scientists — that COVID-19 could be spread by in the air. The Associated Press reported.
Scientists from the U.S. and Australia wrote that they have seen in studies “beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air,” The AP reported.
A large Fourth of July weekend outdoor party, in which hundreds of gathered closely while failing to wear masks, was used as an example of inappropriate behavior by the governor. The state attorney general’s office will review actions at Diamond Lake after the local prosecutor’s office recused itself due to a potential conflict of interest, The Associated Press reported.
Michigan has so far avoided another peak in new cases, unlike states in the southern and western parts of the country, where some states are seeing thousands of new cases each day, pushing the U.S. to all-time daily new cases in recent days.
The Associated Press,
Michigan has so far avoided another peak in new cases, unlike states in the southern and western parts of the country ...
though, reports that 38 states are seeing increasing counts of cases, prompting concerns about the national economy, which was battered as much of the nation locked down in March. Four states — Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California — account for half of the new cases, and with that increase, restaurant visits are falling quickly.
In Macomb County, Executive Mark Hackel said in a YouTube video that his office is working on the duel issue of the health and economic crises, pleased to see a flattened curve but expecting cases to continue. With that, he said they are better positioned because when this started in March, the scramble was to figure out issues to slow the spread — such has trying to get personal protective equipment. Now, the focus is on helping small businesses survive and thrive.
“We understand CDC guidelines,” Mark Hackel said on Thursday. “We’ve been working with our business, even as they open. We are here trying to figure out how to embrace our businesses and lift them up and try to be a partner with them as they open up.”