Bars and parties may be pushing Michigan’s COVID numbers up

Michigan’s COVID-19 infection rate has been a bright spot in the nation’s coronavirus mitigation strategy. After an intial, explosive outbreak, the numbers have settled down to something a little more managable.

Unfortunately, those numbers have begun inching back upwards, and an article on MLive suggests social gatherings and business reopenings may be driving the increase.

Linda Vail, a former Kalamazoo health official and now public health officer in Ingham County, pointed to the reopening of bars and restaurants.

“Our uptick in cases started, oh, five or six days after bars and restaurants re-opened, and there’s an average incubation period of five or six days,” she said.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered most bars in the lower peninsula to close last week after outbreaks at several bars including one in Ingham County.

Workplaces are also contributing to the rise of coronavirus cases. Many of those increases have been in rural areas and centered among farm workers.

Finally, holiday gatherings may also be contributing to the increase.

Kent County’s public health officer, Adam London, said that people are tired of staying indoors and wearing masks.

“There are many people who have kind of concluded that COVID-19 wasn’t a big deal and all the precautions were maybe overboard and we need to get back to life as usual,” London said.

You can read the full story here.