LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Michigan, which not long ago had one of the lowest COVID-19 contamination rates in the country, is facing an alarming spike that some experts worry could herald at a national level.
In what public health authorities in the US have been warning for months could happen across the country, the resurgence is fueled by relaxed restrictions, a more contagious variety and pandemic fatigue.
While vaccinations in Michigan help protect the elderly and other vulnerable people, the revival is leading to more hospital admissions among younger adults, and personal instruction is being discontinued in some schools.
It reminds us that this virus is still very real. It could roar again if we drop our guard, ”said Democratic government Gretchen Whitmer, which has no plans to tighten restrictions on indoor eating, sports and other activities that have eased in recent months.
Michigan last year saw some of the country’s fiercest resistance to lockdowns, including armed demonstrations at the State Capitol and an alleged right-wing plot to kidnap the governor.
Whitmer claimed at a Michigan Chronicle event Thursday that this wave is different from last fall and spring, in part because of the vaccine, which was given to nearly two-thirds of residents 65 and older – those most at risk of dying. Hospital admissions in COVID-19, although higher in recent weeks, remain below the December peak.
Still, the spread of the coronavirus is worrying at a time when many adults have not yet received a dose.
In the past two weeks, the seven-day average of new cases per day in Michigan is up 122% – the biggest change in the US – from 1,687 to 3,753, also the biggest jump in raw numbers. The seven-day per capita rate of cases in the state is the third highest, after New York and New Jersey. Michigan reported more than 5,200 new cases on Thursday, most in more than three months. The death rate is stable.
“It’s very tricky and very concerning,” said Dr. Dawn Misra, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State University.
She cautioned that the trend should not be due solely to a variant more identified in Michigan than in all other states, Florida, and noted that delays and differences in the amount of genetic analysis performed on the virus in the U.S. difficult.
“We do many things that lead to an increased risk. That’s where it comes from, ”said Misra, urging health officials to emphasize strategies such as double masking.
Nationally, COVID-19 has killed more than 545,000 people. With vaccine roll-out gaining momentum, deaths have dropped to an average of less than 1,000 per day, after peaking at more than 3,400 in mid-January. New cases have also risen sharply, but still have a worrying average of more than 57,000 per day, and the trend is reversing in some states.
Michigan will soon have to be tested regularly of all teenage athletes amid outbreaks that occurred after a monthly ban on contact sports was lifted. About 100 teams sit outside the state basketball tournaments for boys and girls.
And some schools are temporarily closing or delaying their long-awaited reopenings.
The school district of Lansing, which has 10,000 students, planned to start learning face-to-face for the first time next week, starting with grades four through six. But the reopening was delayed until April 12, after spring break, due to increasing virus cases in the community.
“We’re back to where we were right after Christmas with some of our songs,” Chief Inspector Sam Sinicropi said Thursday. “I understand the importance of the presence of children and of the staff. But we are going to call because of what is happening in our area. “
Keith Elementary School in the Walled Lake district suspended personal instruction last week due to suddenly troubling grades there.
“It’s one of the things that keeps me up at night. We look at the numbers as if we were looking at the stock market, ”Chief Inspector Ken Gutman said in a YouTube video.
One of Michigan’s largest high schools, Utica Eisenhower in Macomb County, closed in-person classes Tuesday to April 19, after 40 students tested positive and more than 400 quarantined as a result.
“It has certainly been a yo-yo ride,” said Susan Milosavljevic, whose daughter, Natasha, is a youngster. ‘We are not mad at the school. They have taken every precaution and made sure that students wear masks. Unfortunately, there may be a few who test positive. “
White reported from Detroit. AP data journalist Nicky Forster in New York contributed.