11/8/20: Record 6,225 new COVID cases Saturday, 65 deaths

Michigan. State health officials reported a record 6,225 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. That follows two other record-breaking days in the past week that have led the state to a seven day moving average of 4,231 new cases per day.

The state also reported 43 deaths on Friday and 65 deaths on Saturday, with 42 of Saturday’s deaths coming from a review of previous death records. Friday’s death count is the highest one-day total in the state since May. Michigan is now averaging 34 deaths per day.

Hospitalizations. On Friday there were 2,425 people being treated in Michigan hospitals for COVID-19. That’s nearly 700 more than a week prior. Hospitalizations have increased significantly over the past month, from just 927 people on October 8.

Positivity Rate. The state had an average positivity of 9.48% on Friday – much higher than the 3.34% we had a month earlier. At the same time, there have been record numbers of COVID-19 tests conducted over the past week. On Friday, the state reported more than 75,000 coronavirus tests for the day. That indicates that the number of new infections is rising independently of the number of people being tested.

Kalamazoo County. County health officials reported 149 new COVID-19 infections on Friday. When categorized by date of the onset of symptoms – as opposed to the date the infection was reported – last Thursday had the highest total of new infections on record in the county. On that day, 160 people began to feel the effects of COVID-19. The county is averaging nearly 107 new cases per day.

On Friday, Kalamazoo County reported seven new deaths from the coronavirus – another one-day record for the county. It is unclear if any of those deaths came from regularly-conducted reviews of previous death records. Nonetheless, the county is now averaging more than two deaths per day from the coronavirus for the first time.

WMU. Western Michigan University reported 43 new COVID-19 infections during the first three days of last week. The university had been experiencing declining new infections numbers, but last week’s numbers surpassed totals from the previous two weeks. As of November 4, WMU has had more than 800 infections since students began returning to campus in mid-August.