3/17/21: New COVID death breaks Kalamazoo streak
Kalamazoo County: The county has reported its first death from COVID-19 in more than a week.
On Tuesday, county officials reported that one person died from the coronavirus. The last death from COVID-19 was reported on March 4. That has raised the seven day average from zero deaths per day to 0.14.
The county also reported 78 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. The seven day average has been rising steadily since mid-February and now sits at almost 49 new cases per day.
Michigan: The state is in a similar situation, with case counts rising while deaths remain stable.
State health officials reported 2,048 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, pushing the seven day average up to nearly 2,000 new cases per day.
The total number of new cases has increased 78% since the beginning of March. On March 1, the state was averaging 1,107 new cases per day. That has grown to 1,951 cases per day on Tuesday.
The state also reported 27 new deaths from the coronavirus, with six coming from a review of previous death records. The seven day average was almost 16 deaths per day – just slightly lower than it was the day before.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations continue to rise. The state reported 1,124 being treated in hospitals for COVID-19 on Tuesday. That’s 29 more than on Monday. Hospitalizations have increased for most of the past three weeks.
Vaccines: The state is now vaccinating an average of more than 60,000 people per day.
Last Thursday, Michigan hit a record 92,000 inoculations. Monday’s total was somewhat less than that – 40,718 inoculations. But the seven day average is higher than it has been since the first COVID vaccines became available in December.
Kalamazoo County is also breaking records with its vaccination efforts. In the week ending Monday, facilities in the county inoculated an average of 2,109 people per day. That’s higher than at any point during the pandemic.
So far, more than 34,000 people in the county have been completely vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19.
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