The daily case count on Saturday is the highest the state reported since December 7, when the reported case count was 9,350, state statistics show.
Just eight weeks ago, state data showed that the daily count of reported cases was only 563 cases.
“I think it was a wake-up call for everyone yesterday, when Michigan reported 8,400 new cases, and now we are seeing an increasing number of serious illnesses, ICU hospitalizations, in individuals between 30 and 50 years of age who have not been vaccinated,” said Osterholm Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
Osterholm said that in the past year, there have been outbreaks of cases circulating between the regions of the USA, beginning in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, which then diminish and move to the southern solar belt states, which then diminish and return to the regions originals.
Michigan also reported 57 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, with 51 of the deaths identified during a review of vital records that the state conducts three times a week, the health department said. The state has recorded 9,947 deaths from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
Michigan had the second highest number of cases of the variant, after Florida.
“At the moment, the regular Covid test we do shows only Covid / not Covid. But we’ve sent many of them to the state and we’re seeing about 40% of our patients now with B.1.1.7,” said Miguel Marquez of CNN .