(WWJ) Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in Michigan, according to health officials.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday reported 610 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, marking the first time the daily increase has topped 600 since the end of May.
Those cases bring the number of cases in Michigan to 67,237 throughout the pandemic.
Also Wednesday, an additional 10 deaths were reported, for a total of 6,015 deaths linked to the virus in Michigan since March.
As for where the new cases are popping up, the biggest jumps continues to be in the Lansing, Jackson, and Livingston County areas, according to the health department.
(See more stats, including deaths by age, deaths by sex, and percentage of cases by county at THIS LINK.)
Data from Covid Act Now now shows Michigan is at "high risk" for a coronavirus outbreak. For comparison, on June 18 Michigan was labeled by the same group of researchers as "on track to contain COVID," then moving to "experiencing controlled disease growth" on July 2.
Speaking live on WWJ Wednesday morning, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressed concern about the increase, and stressed that contact tracing is crucial.
"What we are watching is the number of COVID cases going up. We have seen the number go up because of testing, but we're also seeing the percent of positive tests going up as well," Whitmer said. "Context matters. If we have 100 cases in Wayne County, but they all stemmed from one event...then we can trace and isolate. But if those 100 cases are randomized and there's no link, and tracing is not as easy to do, that's a lot more concerning."
What is contact tracing? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's a method used by health departments to prevent the spread of infectious disease. In general, contact tracing involves identifying people who have an infectious disease (cases) and people who they came in contact with (contacts) and working with them to interrupt disease spread. This includes asking people with COVID-19 to isolate and their contacts to quarantine at home voluntarily.
Whitmer is asking Michiganders to pick up the phone when it rings, or regularly listen to voicemails to make sure they're not missing important calls from the health department informing them that they may have been exposed to the virus.
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