3/11/21: One year, 600,000 infections

Michigan: More than 600,000 Michiganders have contracted COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, one year ago.

As of Wednesday, Michigan has counted 601,284 infections of the coronavirus. That day, health officials reported 2,316 new cases of COVID-19 – the largest single-day total since January 15. That brought the seven day average up to 1,362 new cases per day.

The state also reported seven new deaths from the coronavirus. The seven day average held steady at about 20 deaths per day.

The state’s positivity rate has been rising for most of the past two weeks. On Tuesday, 4.69% of the COVID-19 tests conducted in the state returned a positive result.

Kalamazoo County: The average of daily new infections is still rising in Kalamazoo as well.

County officials reported 54 new infections on Wednesday, pushing the seven day average up to almost 43 new infections per day.

At the same time, the county reported no new deaths from the coronavirus. The seven day average of new deaths is approaching zero deaths per day.

Meanwhile, the county’s positivity rate is climbing ever higher – eclipsing the state’s number. The county recorded an average of 7.11% positivity rate on Tuesday. That number has been growing since Valentine’s Day.

Vaccines: Almost 3 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the state as of Tuesday. The one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been given to 5,677 people, while another 984,000 people have completed both doses of one of the other two vaccines.

In Kalamazoo County, more than 82,000 doses of vaccine have been administered as of Tuesday. The state doesn’t report a breakdown by vaccine, so we don’t know how many shots of the one-dose J&J vaccine have been administered, but more than 30,000 people have completed both doses of the other vaccines.