1/14/21: Kalamazoo County COVID numbers dropping quickly

Kalamazoo County: The county’s new infection and death numbers have declined rapidly in the past few days. County health officials reported 46 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday. That’s the lowest single day count in recent weeks. The county is averaging 67 new cases per day over the past week, which is down from 90 just a week ago.

The county also reported two new deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday. That brought the county’s seven day average down to less than one death per day – the lowest average the county’s seen since late October. Just a week ago, the county was averaging nearly four deaths per day.

Kalamazoo’s COVID hospitalizations also seem to be declining, though it’s too soon to call it a trend.

Bronson Methodist Hospital reported on Thursday it was treating 27 people for COVID-19. That’s ten fewer than the day before. That put the hospital at 86% capacity – the first time it’s been below 90% in two weeks.

Ascension Borgess Hospital reported on Thursday it had 33 COVID-19 patients, which is eight fewer than the last time it reported on Monday. That put the hospital at 90% capacity, which is the highest it’s been since mid-December.

Michigan: State health officials reported 2,698 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. That’s just four more than the previous day. The seven day average dropped slightly to 2,608 new cases per day. All that indicates that new infection numbers are leveling off after a brief spike due to the holidays.

Michigan’s infection numbers are still high compared to early last fall when new infections numbered less than 1,000 each day.

The state also reported 139 new deaths from the coronavirus, with 107 of them coming as a result of reviews of previous death records. The state is now averaging roughly 83 deaths per day over the past week. That number has been declining for several days in a row.

Hospitalization numbers also seem to be leveling off in Michigan. The state reported 2,238 people being treated for COVID-19 in Michigan hospitals on Thursday. That’s just eight fewer than the previous day. Hospitalizations have been declining steadily since early December.

Vaccinations: Getting vaccines out to people in Michigan is still moving slowly, but is expected to continue gaining steam over the next week.

Bronson Hospital announced Thursday it would begin administering the vaccine to people age 65 and older, in line with new orders from the state. Meanwhile, The Detroit News reports that Michigan will get nearly twice the shipment of new vaccines as it was expecting next week.

As of Wednesday, 368,844 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered to people in Michigan. Nearly 53,000 people have completed both doses of the vaccine.

In Kalamazoo, 12,501 doses of the vaccine have been administered. That’s about 44% of available supplies.