4/19/21: COVID seems to be stabilizing

Michigan: At long last, the spring surge of the coronavirus seems to be flattening out.

The seven day average of new infections in the state has been wavering back and forth around the 7,000-people-per-day level for several days in a row now.

The state reported 8,955 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and another 5,530 on Saturday. That caused the week average to drop to 6,755 new cases per day on Saturday.

The state reported 40 new deaths from the coronavirus on Friday and 69 on Saturday, with 60 of Saturday’s number coming from a review of previous death records. That caused the seven day average to decline slightly to 48.6 deaths per day – near where it has been since Thursday.

Hospitalizations went up on Friday, but also seem to be leveling off. The state reported 4,242 patients being treated for COVID-19 on Friday. The number had been declining slightly over the previous two days.

Meanwhile, the state’s positivity rate has been on the decline for more than a week now. In the week ending Friday, an average of 14% of COVID-19 tests returned positive results. That’s down from nearly 17% on April 8.

Kalamazoo County: COVID-19 numbers in the county seem to have stopped increasing as well.

The county reported 136 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, bringing the seven day average up to almost 150 new cases per day. That’s near where the average has been for much of the past week.

County officials reported two new deaths from the coronavirus on Friday. That kept the seven day average at 1.14 deaths per day.

The county’s positivity rate has also declined from its peak one week ago. In the week ending Friday, an average of about 15% of COVID-19 tests in the county returned positive results. That’s down from 17.5% on April 11.

Vaccines: Vaccination rates in Michigan have taken a hit as a result of the pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In the week ending Sunday, the state was inoculating an average of 59,000 people per day. That’s a far cry from the nearly 102,000 per day the state reported just a week earlier. It brings Michigan down to the rate it was vaccinating people more than a month ago.

Kalamazoo County’s vaccination efforts have also declined, though not as precipitously. On Sunday, facilities in the county were inoculating an average of 2,834 people per day – down from a high of 3,200 per day less than a week earlier.

Federal health officials expect to reinstate the use of the J&J vaccine later this week – perhaps as late as Friday. The vaccine has been paused due to rare cases of blood clots in patients who received it.