12/2/20: 6,955 new COVID cases, 81 deaths
Michigan: State health officials on Wednesday reported 6,955 new cases of COVID-19. The state’s seven day average rose slightly to 6,917 new cases per day. The average is higher than in recent days, but it’s also a little lower than the all-time high of 7,270 it was two weeks ago. That suggest that new infections, while still high, are leveling off.
The state also reported 81 new deaths from the coronavirus raising the average death toll to 92 deaths per day. State health officials have warned that the state could experience 100 deaths per day by the end of the year.
Kalamazoo County: County officials reported 179 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. Kalamazoo is now averaging 150 new cases per day, a record for the county. The county reported no new deaths from the virus, though it is still averaging 1.29 deaths per day.
Hospitalizations: Hospitalizations for COVID-19 declined slightly for the second day in a row. On Wednesday, there were 4,266 people being cared for in Michigan hospitals for COVID-19. That’s 44 fewer than on Tuesday, and 60 fewer than on Monday.
In Kalamazoo County, Bronson Methodist Hospital reported it was caring for 49 coronavirus patients on Wednesday, bringing it to 92% capacity. Kalamazoo’s other hospital doesn’t publicly report patient numbers, and the state only reports COVID-19 data for hospitals once per week.
