3/15/21: Quarter of Kalamazoo adults at least partially vaccinated

Vaccines: One quarter of adults in Kalamazoo County have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. More than 14% of adults in the county have been fully vaccinated.

In just over three months since the first vaccine became available, nearly 70% of people age 65 or older have received at least one dose of the vaccine. It’s a staggering number considering the intricacies required to transport and store the majority of the vaccines.

As of last Thursday, more than 33,000 people have been fully vaccinated in the county. Facilities are inoculating about 1,600 people per day.

Statewide, more than a million people have been fully vaccinated, with nearly 12,000 people having received the new one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Nearly three million doses of vaccine have been administered since early December.

Kalamazoo County: The good news about vaccines is tempered by the rising rate of infections in the county.

County officials reported 49 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. That caused the seven day average to rise to 45 new cases per day.

Despite the rise in infections, death rates have remained low. In Kalamazoo County, no people have died from the coronavirus since March 4.

Michigan: The same mismatch between new infections and deaths exists at the state level as well.

State health officials reported 2,403 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and another 1,659 on Saturday. The seven day average rose to 1,626 new cases per day.

Deaths have not increased as some had predicted. Officials reported 45 new deaths from the virus on Friday and Saturday, with 30 coming as a result of a review of death records. However, the seven day average dropped from 18 deaths per day on Friday to 15.43 on Saturday. The average death number hasn’t been this low since mid-October.

Hospitalizations continued to rise on Friday. Just under 1,000 people were being treated for COVID-19 that day – 132 more than a week earlier.