3/24/21: Positivity rate hits highest level this year

Michigan: On Tuesday, the state set the record for the highest positivity rate this year.

The state reported that 12.03% of the COVID-19 tests conducted between Monday afternoon and Tuesday returned positive results. The last time positivity rates hit that level was during the fall surge of the pandemic.

State officials reported 3,579 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday. That pushed the seven day average up to almost 3,000 new cases per day. The average has been rising steadily for over a month.

The state also reported 16 new deaths from the coronavirus on Tuesday, with half coming from a review of previous death records. Despite rising infection numbers, the average continued to decline to about 15.5 deaths per day over the past week.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations are rising rapidly. On Tuesday, 1,687 people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals in Michigan. That’s 107 more people than on Monday. The rise of hospitalizations is worrisome, but more worrisome is how quickly the number has been rising over the past four days.

Kalamazoo County: It has now been a week since the last person died from COVID-19 in Kalamazoo County. That brings the seven day average to zero – a hopeful sign as other measures of the pandemic rise.

The county reported 121 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, pushing the seven day average up to almost 65 new cases per day. Infection numbers are rising rapidly in the county.

The county’s positivity rate continues to climb as well. In the week ending Tuesday, an average of 9.6% of COVID-19 tests returned positive results each day. The positivity rate hasn’t been this high since the weeks following the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays.

Vaccines: Kalamazoo County continues to get more and more people vaccinated each day. In the week ending Monday, the county was averaging a record 2,500 inoculations per day. Nearly 34% of adult residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Across the state, 29% of adult residents have been at least partially inoculated against COVID-19. More than 3.6 million doses have been administered so far.

The state as a whole is also breaking records when it comes to daily vaccination numbers. In the week ending Monday, an average of almost 70,000 doses were being administered per day.