2/4/21: Kalamazoo infections, deaths drop to lowest level since September

Kalamazoo County: New cases of the coronavirus have reached their lowest level since early fall in a hopeful sign that the virus is abating in the county.

On Thursday, county health officials reported 28 new cases of COVID-19. That brought the seven day moving average down to roughly 27 new infections per day. It’s the lowest average in Kalamazoo County since early September just before the fall surge took off.

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The county also reported one new death from the coronavirus on Thursday. The county is now averaging less than one death per day over the past week.

Kalamazoo County’s positivity rate continues to decline. On Wednesday, officials reported that 5.32% of COVID-19 tests conducted in the county came back positive. That’s still higher than the 5% officials cited as a prerequisite for reopening the economy last summer and it’s much higher than the 3% officials would like to see now.

However, Kalamazoo’s average positivity rate is 5.26% and has been declining steadily for over a week raising hopes that the county may still get COVID transmission under control in the near future.

Michigan: State health officials reported 1,358 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. That dropped the seven day moving average to 1,306 new cases per day. That’s the lowest the average has been since mid-October.

The state also reported 74 deaths from the coronavirus, with 63 of those coming as a result of a review of previous death records. The state is averaging 41 deaths per day over the previous week.

The state’s average positivity rate has been below 5% for three consecutive days. On Wednesday, just 3.39% of COVID-19 tests returned positive results.

Vaccines: As of Wednesday, Michigan has administered at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine to 8.2% of the state’s population. That places Michigan solidly in the middle of the pack when it comes to vaccination rates. Sparsely populated states like Alaska and West Virginia currently lead the nation in vaccination rates.

So far, Michigan has given the first shot of the vaccine to more than 615,000 people, with nearly 256,000 people having received both doses.

Kalamazoo County continues to increase its vaccination efforts. According to state data, facilities in the county injected a record 2,299 doses of the vaccine into people’s arms on Wednesday. The county is averaging 1,297 inoculations per day.

Nearly 36,000 doses of vaccine have been administered so far in Kalamazoo County, with more than 9,000 people receiving both doses.