DETROIT (WXYZ) — The State of Michigan reports an uptick in COVID-19 cases over the past week, with more than 13 percent of COVID tests coming back positive.
That's up four percent since late September. So how does your county's covid test rate compare to the states? And what might be behind the increase?
With increasingly colder temperatures on the way, along with a natural rise in respiratory viruses this time of year the state warns residents to continue taking COVID seriously.
"Following the mandates and making sure that everybody I come in contact with is also following the rules and wearing a mask. I never go anywhere without a mask on. Sometimes I even have two," is how Duane Dearring describes what he’s doing.
"We've been able to stay healthy and things is going well because we've been going with the protocols, and I just wish people would take it more seriously, and maybe these numbers can start declining again," says Vincent Beard.
According to the state and its COVID-19 dashboard, there's been an uptrend in COVID cases in several local counties in the past week.
As of Thursday:
- Oakland County has a positivity test rate of 9.8%
- Washtenaw -- 5.7%
- Macomb -- 14%
- Wayne County, with an uptrend for five weeks, has a positivity rate of 11%.
- Livingston County, trending downward for three weeks, has a positivity rate of 15%
Dr. Matthew Sims says most of the people he's seeing at Beaumont Health with COVD these days are unvaccinated - but not all.
"I'm seeing some people with vaccine breakthrough,” Sims says. “Overall, the people who are vaccinated who I see breakthrough don't tend to be as sick. Though I have seen 1 to 2 vaccinated people get pretty sick."
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says from September 27th to October 26th, 27 percent of more than 100,000 cases involved a fully vaccinated individual.
Dr. Sims says breakthrough cases often include underlying medical problems.
"If you get a lot of cases but nobody ends up in the hospital, that's not the worst case in the world. Though, of course, we don't want that much spread because whenever there's spread there's a risk for developing new variants," he says.
The state Department of Health and Human Services tells 7 Action News:
Michigan continues to experience high levels of COVID-19 across the state. This shows how transmissible the delta variant is and how mitigation measures are still needed. This case rate with the holidays and colder weather around the corner is concerning, and respiratory virus season could add to the burden on our health care systems.
We recommend all eligible Michiganders get one of the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, wear masks, get tested if you are ill and stay home if they are sick.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.