2/7/21: New infections drop to near 1K

Michigan: New infections continue to drop in Michigan, reaching levels not seen since early October.

State health officials reported just 1,018 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. That brought the seven day moving average down to 1,201 cases per day – the lowest average since October 14.

The state also reported 97 new deaths from the coronavirus on Saturday, with 82 of them coming from a review of previous death records.

Hospitalizations are also reaching levels not seen since early fall. On Friday, 1,296 people were being treated for COVID-19 in Michigan hospitals. That’s the lowest number since October 23.

Michigan’s positivity rate continues to decline – coming close to the 3% number health officials indicate would mean the spread of the virus is under control. On Friday, an average of 4.52% of coronavirus tests returned positive results.

Kalamazoo County: Kalamazoo County is lagging a little behind the state as a whole in terms of transmission of the coronavirus, but numbers are still dropping.

On Friday, county officials reported 26 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the seven day average to about 27 new cases per day. There were no new deaths from the coronavirus, bringing that measure’s week average to just 0.43 deaths per day.

Kalamazoo County’s positivity rate dropped below 5% for the first time since early fall. Over the week ending Friday, an average of 4.67% of COVID-19 tests returned positive results.

Vaccines: Kalamazoo County set a record for the number of vaccines administered last week, according to state reports.

Between January 29 and February 4, 8,149 doses of vaccine were administered in the county. That includes vaccines given out at clinics run by the county’s health department and at the hospitals Bronson and Borgess. As of Thursday, 1,164 doses were given out per day in the county.

So far, 17,405 people have received one dose of the vaccine in Kalamazoo County with 9,580 people having received both doses.

The state had given out more than 1,186,000 doses of the vaccine as of Thursday. More than 285,000 people have completed both inoculations.

However, the state is still stretching to reach the 50,000 doses per day targeted by the governor. On Thursday, the state was averaging just about 36,000 doses per day.