Morning Briefing Jan. 4, 2022: The latest on COVID in Michigan – WDIV ClickOnDetroit
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Dave Bartkowiak Jr., Digital Managing Editor
Published: January 4, 2022, 8:36 AM
Dave Bartkowiak Jr., Digital Managing Editor
Michigan reported 61,235 new cases of COVID-19 and 298 virus-related deaths Monday — an average of 12,247 cases over the past five days.
This is the second-largest daily case average for Michigan since the start of the pandemic. On Wednesday, officials reported an average of 12,929 cases over two days.
Monday’s update brings the total number of confirmed COVID cases in Michigan to 1,568,573, including 27,286 deaths. These numbers are up from 1,507,338 cases and 26,988 deaths, as of Wednesday.
The deaths announced Monday include 172 identified during a Vital Records review.
Testing has increased to around 50,000 to 60,000 diagnostic tests reported per day on average, with the 7-day positive rate jumping up to 29.93% as of Jan. 3. Hospitalizations are on the rise again after slightly decreasing for the past few weeks.
Read the latest COVID report here.
The state of Michigan is reporting a jump in COVID-19 hospitalizations at the start of 2022.
On Monday, Jan. 3, the state reported 4,232 adult inpatients at Michigan hospitals. That number is up from 3,862 reported Dec. 29, 2021.
The state also reported an increase to 107 pediatric patients who are confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19. That number is at an all-time high since the state started reporting such pediatric COVID hospitalizations in August 2020.
Here’s a look at the state’s hospitalization trends.
From Dr. Frank McGeorge:
Omicron has changed so many things about the pandemic that it’s almost like dealing with a different virus. It was first identified in South Africa.
Previous variants have taken several weeks to reach a peak, creating more of a hump on a graph of new cases. Omicron, because it spreads so quickly. is causing the steepest spike in cases of all the variants.
If you look at a graph of new cases in South Africa, the omicron variant peak has already occurred about three weeks from the point it took off. Cases there are already decreasing.
In the United States, we had a much higher baseline number of cases because of ongoing delta spread. Once omicron was introduced into the U.S. our cases have also sharply spiked over roughly the past two weeks. It remains to be seen if we’ll peak in three weeks, like South Africa did.
Another important chart is the relationship of new cases to deaths that occurred from omicron in South Africa. Unlike with prior variant waves, the number of deaths didn’t increase dramatically. That’s one reason health officials believe omicron might not cause as severe an illness. So far in the U.S. we haven’t seen a spike in deaths either.
Large numbers of people will likely become infected with omicron, hopefully with less severe disease. It has the potential to generate widespread immunity. It is not the smartest way to develop widespread immunity compared to getting vaccinated.
Even though omicron may cause fewer deaths for every new case, the spike in new cases means there will still be an overwhelming burden on our healthcare system and deaths will continue. There’s also the broad disruption to society that widespread infection causes.
Read: More answers to questions about coronavirus
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Dave Bartkowiak Jr. is the digital managing editor for ClickOnDetroit.
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