3/19/21: Infection average at highest point since January

Michigan: The state is averaging more new COVID-19 infections per day that at any point in the past two months.

Health officials reported 2,629 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday. That pushed the seven day average up to 2,149 new cases per day. The last time the average was over 2,000 per day was on January 19 – almost two months ago.

At the same time, the number of new deaths is staying stable. On Thursday, officials reported 25 new deaths from the coronavirus, with all but one coming from a review of previous death records. The state is averaging just over 15 deaths per day over the past week. That’s only a little higher than on Wednesday and far lower than people had expected as a result of recent spikes in infections.

Nonetheless, hospitalization numbers are increasing. The state reported that 1,237 people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals in the state on Thursday. That’s 60 more people than on Wednesday. Hospitalizations have been rising in line with new infection numbers over the past three weeks.

Kalamazoo County: The average of new infections actually dropped slightly in Kalamazoo County on Thursday.

County health officials reported 35 new cases of COVID-19, causing the seven day average to drop by one to almost 49 new cases per day.

The county reported no new deaths on Thursday. The hope is that the coronavirus death average in Kalamazoo will soon drop to zero.

Hospitalizations in the county stayed about the same as they’ve been for the past week, though both Kalamazoo hospitals are operating at more than 90% capacity.

Bronson Methodist Hospital was treating 19 patients for COVID-19 on Thursday – exactly the same as on Monday. Ascension Borgess Hospital was treating 16 coronavirus patients – one more than on Monday.

Vaccines: More than 100,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Kalamazoo County as of Wednesday.

That same day, facilities in the county inoculated a record 4,051 people. Nearly half that number were people receiving their second dose of one of the two-shot vaccines.

In Michigan, more than 3.3 million doses of vaccine have been administered so far. About 1.2 million people have completed their vaccination regimen by either having two doses of a two-shot vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.