1/12/21: New case numbers and deaths declining again

Michigan: State health officials reported 1,994 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. That’s a drop from previous days and brings the state’s seven day moving average down a little bit to 3,029 new cases per day. New case numbers have been relatively stable over the past few weeks, though still higher than they were in early autumn, when case numbers really began to climb.

The state also reported 100 new deaths from the coronavirus, with half of them coming as a result of a review of previous death records. The state is now averaging about 91 new deaths per day over the past week.

Hospitalization numbers bumped upward on Tuesday after six weeks of mostly steady declines. The state reported 2,443 people were being treated for COVID-19 in Michigan hospitals – 47 more than on Monday. It’s not a big change and may not indicate a worrying increase.

Kalamazoo County: County officials reported 55 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday. That brought the county’s seven day moving average down to about 86 new cases per day. New infection numbers have declined over the past two days, reversing a trend of rising infection rates since just before the new year.

Kalamazoo County also reported one new death from the virus. That brought the county’s average down to 1.86 deaths per day over the previous week. That’s the lowest death average the county has seen since the new year and comes just days after the highest death average of the pandemic.

Bronson Methodist Hospital reported a few more COVID-19 patients than it had on Monday. The hospital is currently treating 39 people for the coronavirus. It reported on Monday that it was operating at 90% capacity. The county’s other hospital does not publicly report COVID patient numbers.

Vaccines: The state’s vaccination campaign has been moving slowly, but has begun to speed up. Officials reported that it had administered a record 25,478 doses of the vaccine on Monday, bringing the total number of people who have had at least one dose of the vaccine to 265,357.

Meanwhile, Kalamazoo County has administered 10,092 doses of the vaccine as of Monday. That’s about 35% of the total number of doses that have been delivered to facilities throughout the county.

More facilities have signed up to distribute vaccines in Kalamazoo County. As of Monday, 18 locations were able to store or administer COVID-19 vaccines. That includes ten pharmacies, which have been recruited in the effort to administer the vaccines to people in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes.

There are also four hospital settings, two family medical practices, and the county’s health department on the list.