12/1/20: State approaching 100 deaths per day

Michigan: State health officials reported 190 new deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday – just the third highest single-day new death total during the course of the pandemic. The state reported 205 new deaths on April 10 and 232 on April 21.

Of Tuesday’s total, 30 deaths came as a result of a review of previous vital records where COVID-19 was listed as the cause of death.

The seven day moving average on Tuesday was 91 deaths per day, approaching the 100 deaths per day warned by the state’s chief medical executive in early November. The average is high, but not as high as it was in April when the state was averaging over 150 deaths per day.

COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in Michigan in 2020 with 9,324 deaths so far this year. Coronavirus deaths are ranked below heart disease and cancer, which each have roughly 20,000 deaths per year as of 2018, but above chronic respiratory disease, accidents, and strokes.

The state also reported 5,793 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday bringing the seven day moving average to 6,534 new cases per day.

Kalamazoo County: New infection numbers are flattening out in Kalamazoo County. On Tuesday, county officials reported 126 new cases of the coronavirus. The county is averaging 138 new cases per day.

Kalamazoo County also reported five new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday. The county is averaging 1.57 new deaths per day from the virus.

Hospitalizations: COVID-19 hospitalizations dipped slightly in Michigan. On Tuesday, the state reported 4,310 people were being cared for in state hospitals for the coronavirus. That’s down 16 from Monday. Despite that the number of ICU patients has risen again to 874 people.

Bronson Methodist Hospital reported 47 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday bringing them to 89% capacity.