(WWJ) The novel coronavirus has now taken 2,700 lives in Michigan.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Service Tuesday afternoon reported 232 more deaths* confirmed since Monday's report — the highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.
The deadliest second day for COVID-19 in Michigan was April 10, when 205 deaths were reported. (Scroll down to the bottom of this page for an explanation from the state on how the deaths are counted.)
The infection count also continues to climb. The health department reported 967 more people have tested positive which brings the statewide total during the pandemic to 32,967 confirmed cases. This comes after slower growth in the numbers in recent days.
Meanwhile, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Tuesday that the number of coronavirus cases in the city is plateauing, although it remains the hardest-hit area of the state — with 7,904 cases and 728 deaths.
Looking outside the city at the metro Detroit area, the remainder of Wayne County has 6,351 cases and 550 deaths. Oakland County has 6,306 cases and 506 deaths, and Macomb County has 4,544 cases and 445 deaths.
In Mid-Michigan, Genesee County — which includes the city of Flint — is also racking up some higher numbers, with 1,298 cases and 131 deaths as of Tuesday.
At this point, every county in the Lower Peninsula has at least one document case.
A bright spot in the statistics: The state is reporting 3,237 people have recovered from COVID-19 as of April 17. The recovery numbers are reported weekly by MDHHS and are defined as those alive 30 days post-onset. (This statistic is updated once a week, on Saturdays). This comes as Beaumont Health System revealed it has discharged 2,076 COVID-19 patients, with 154 patients taken off ventilators.
See more stats, including deaths by age, deaths by sex, and percentage of cases by county at THIS LINK.
Mayor Duggan said Tuesday that "testing is key" when it comes to the ongoing fight against COVID-19; as Detroit begins testing all essential workers, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.
Duggan said 140 companies signed up to test their essential employees in the first 24 hours that the drive-thru service at the Fairgrounds has been made available to all essential workers; even those without symptoms.
"Nearly half of those companies are food-handling companies, grocery stores and restaurants — the exact people you would want," Duggan said. "But it's also interesting to see who else signed up. We had daycare centers, we have doctor's offices. The employees at the TCF Center signed up." See the new Detroit COVID-19 dashboard, breaking down the test results, at this link.
Duggan noted that only 17 COVID-19 patients are being treated at the TCF Center field hospital at this point; far fewer than the officials had been prepared for.
The three main symptoms of coronavirus are fever, cough and shortness of breath. In order to mitigate risk of spreading COVID-19, everyone is encouraged to take action to reduce the spread, including: wash your hands often with soap and water or use hand sanitizer; avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands; cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing; avoid handshakes; avoid contact with people who are sick; and stay home when you are sick. Officials are urging social distancing -- staying at least six feet away from other people -- to help flatten the curve.
*A note on deaths (per MDHHS on 4/21/20): Regular reviews of death certificate data maintained in Vital Records reporting systems are conducted by MDHHS staff three times per week. As a part of this process, records that identify COVID-19 infection as a contributing factor to death are compared against all laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS). If a death certificate is matched to a confirmed COVID-19 case and that record in the MDSS does not indicate the individual died, the MDSS record is updated to indicate the death and the appropriate local health department is notified. These matched deaths are then included with mortality information posted to the Michigan Coronavirus website. As a result of the most recent assessment, today's data includes 95 additional deaths identified by this methodology.
This is a rapidly evolving situation. Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 where we will remain live, local and committed to bringing you the latest information during this outbreak. >>LISTEN LIVE!
