9/22/20: 504 new COVID infections, 15 deaths

State health officials on Tuesday reported 504 new COVID-19 infections bringing the seven day moving average to 675 new cases per day.

The state also reported 15 new deaths from the coronavirus, with three discovered during a review of previous death records.

The state’s upper penninsula is experiencing a rise in infections that has led Harvard’s Global Health Initiative to categorize three U.P. counties as “code red,” meaning they are at high risk of disease spread.

Experts point to outbreaks at Michigan Tech University and the after-effects of the Labor Day holiday as culprits behind the rise in infections in Houghton, Iron, and Menominee counties.

Kalamazoo County health officials reported 19 new confirmed COVID-19 infections Tuesday along with 26 new probable infections based on antibody tests. The county is still seeing an average of about 33 new infections per day based on the past seven days.

Western Michigan University, which reports COVID-19 data twice each week, disclosed it confirmed 69 new cases of the virus during Thursday and Friday of last week. The university is testing roughly 142 staff and students per day with between 14% and 23% of the tests coming back positive.