1/26/21: Vaccinations exceed infections in Michigan

Vaccines: Michigan has passed an important milestone. The state has now administered more doses of the coronavirus vaccine than it has had cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

As of Monday, more than 729,000 people in Michigan have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. That’s compared to the approximately 600,000 cases of COVID-19 that have been diagnosed since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Both currently available vaccines require two doses spaced several weeks apart. So far, about 130,000 people have received both doses.

Meanwhile, efforts to get more people vaccinated more quickly are progressing, albeit slowly.

In Kalamazoo County, 24,324 doses of the vaccine have been administered as of Monday. The majority of those have been given to medical workers and people who work or live in nursing homes. But vaccinations of people 65 and older are accelerating.

The county health department plans to report weekly vaccine statistics via its online COVID-19 dashboard.

In its inaugural report, the department said it administered 2,976 doses of the vaccine during the week ending January 23. In total, it has given out 7,331 doses since mid-December.

Michigan: State health officials reported 1,476 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. That brings the state’s seven day moving average down to 1,777 new cases per day.

Officials also reported 79 new deaths from the coronavirus, with 44 of them coming from a review of previous death records it conducts several times each week. The average of deaths rose to 77 deaths per day over the previous week.

Kalamazoo County: County officials reported 48 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. That caused the seven day moving average to drop slightly to 39.4 new cases per day.

The county also reported two new deaths. The average dropped to 2.43 deaths per day over the previous week.