2/25/21: Infection average above 1K again

Michigan: After shrinking for most of 2021, COVID-19 infections are growing again.

For the first time in more that two weeks, the seven day average of new infections surpassed 1,000 new infections per day on Thursday.

State health officials reported 1,388 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. That brought the seven day moving average to 1,037 new cases per day – the first time that number has been above 1,000 since February 10.

The state also reported 48 new deaths from the coronavirus, with 30 of them coming after a review of previous death records. Average daily death numbers are still declining. The seven day average stands at 25.71 new deaths per day.

Kalamazoo County: New infections are increasing in Kalamazoo County as well.

On Thursday, county officials reported 38 new cases of the virus. That brought the average up to 29.57 new cases per day over the past week. The average has now been growing for a week straight.

The county also reported one new death from the coronavirus. The average remains low at 0.29 deaths per day over the past week.

Variants: Cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus grew by 60% over the past day.

The CDC’s variant dashboard reports there are now 336 cases of the more contagious strain of virus that causes COVID-19. The strain is commonly referred to as the U.K. variant based on where it was first discovered.

Michigan currently has the second highest number of cases of the variant in the country. Only Florida has more, with 500 cases.

Vaccines: More than 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given out in Michigan.

The state’s vaccine dashboard shows that 2,054,737 doses had been administered in the state as of Wednesday. More than 740,000 people have received both doses of the vaccine.

Dwindling supplies continue to make vaccination efforts difficult. Overall, the state has administered more than 78% of the doses that have been delivered.

Despite supply issues, Kalamazoo County facilities administered a record number of doses on Wednesday. Throughout the county, 3,302 inoculations were conducted.

So far, 23,512 people in Kalamazoo County have received both doses of the vaccine, with another 16,729 having received just the first dose.