(WXYZ) – Michigan could be facing another wave of COVID-19 cases, Drs told a news conference on Friday. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical officer.
Dr. Khaldun said “very worrying data” show that the state is going in the wrong direction
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said.
Case rates in Michigan are now 173 cases per million and have been rising over the past four weeks. They have increased by 77% in all age groups, but those aged 10 to 19 have seen the largest increase.
In addition, the percentage of positivity has increased over the past four weeks and is now at 6.2 percent. There has also been an increase in hospitalization rates over the past two weeks, with 4.9% of hospital beds for patients with COVID-19.
Dr. Khaldun said many of the cases are related to outbreaks, which have risen to 645 across the state.
Last week, the number of cases in K-12 settings exceeded the number of long-term care centers. Dr. Khaldun said there are risks with activities related to children in this age group.
Many of the outbreaks are related to sports; Dr. Khaldun said 315 outbreaks are associated with different sports teams related to clubs, schools and recreational sports.
In addition, Dr. Khaldun said that although children are less likely to suffer from severe COVID-19 disease, they can still do so. The state still monitors cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, known as MIS-C, a syndrome associated with COVID-19 in children that can cause inflammation of multiple organs.
To date, 89 cases of MIS-C have been identified in Michigan children.
“We still have to protect our children from this terrible virus,” Dr. Khaldun said.
The state also continues to track variants. Currently, 736 cases of variant B117 have been identified in 31 counties across the state. Michigan has the second largest number of cases of this variant in the United States, behind Florida.
Dr. Khaldun said most cases with this variant are associated with outbreaks in congregated settings, but the variant is also spreading to the community.
“I care about our current numbers,” he said. “It is imperative that we protect each other with masks and social distancing.”
“How this works depends on what we all do collectively to protect ourselves and our families.”
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