WVBI COVID-19 Update for January 6, 2021

Michigan health officials yesterday reported receipt of another 140,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine. They arrive as the state has struggled to administer the first 380,000 already sent to the state. The new delivery brings the number of doses received to over half a million, but so far, the state has administered just over 140,000 of them—putting it pretty much at the bottom of the list for the nation according to an analysis by Bridge Michigan.

 

New COVID-19 case numbers state-wide continue to look good. The statewide had 2,291 new cases, down from the 2,496 a day average over the New Year’s reporting period.   There were 72 new deaths, though, which is up from the 40 average over New Year’s.  There were also 117 reclassified deaths reported. The seven-day running average for new cases is down to 2,927—a decrease of just over 100.  For deaths it is still 84—that number still high because it includes deaths reclassified from prior dates some of which are likely outside the seven-day period we look to average. In the eight-county region we’ve followed from the start, there were 50 new cases a day, up from an average of 45 over New Year’s. There were four new deaths, also up.  Charlevoix had two new cases and no new deaths.  The deaths were in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse and Kalkaska—with one each in each of those four counties. Averages for the region are 55 new cases and two deaths a day.

 

Statewide there are now 138,168 active cases—down by over 3,000.  Our region has 2,427—down just two. 

 

Last reported average positivity rate statewide is up by almost a half a point to 9.7% and nearly steady 8.1% for our safe start zone.  The rate in Charlevoix county is 2.2%. The C-D-C target is 3%.  Hospital occupancy reports continue to look good.   75.1% of in-patient rooms are in use statewide and 69.5% in our region.  For I-C-Us, the rate is 76.6% for the state and 67.4% locally. Those numbers are for overall utilization—not just for COVID-19.  The COVID-19 case count in our local hospitals is steady. Munson Hospital in Charlevoix has one COVID-19 patients, in a regular room.  At McLaren in Petoskey, they have seven patients–all of them are in their I-C-U. 

 

On the island, the Health Center reports another test run and no new results back.  There are three tests pending. No new positives since December 7^th—so we are quickly approaching the point where all known cases on the island will be more than 30 days old.

 

Complete data for our region plus summaries for the state, the T-C safe start zone and the U-P are in today’s script online.

 

Data from January 2, 2021