Macomb County enters 2022 facing a daunting threat from the newest Covid variant, Omicron, as the number of Covid cases accelerates at a record-breaking pace and the number of people testing positive for the virus has equaled its highest level since the pandemic began.
The county experienced 26,786 Covid cases in December, according to the Macomb County Health Department, nearly 8,000 more than the previous high reached in April 2021.
Macomb’s number of deaths broke the 3,000 milestone over the weekend while the virus seems to be spreading largely unabated due to the lack of substantial vaccination rates among the public.
The newest data show that the number of people testing positive for Covid so far in January, 39.7 percent, equals the previous top positivity rate in March 2020 when doctors and hospitals were struggling to control the spread of the mysterious virus while no vaccines existed.
In the lead-up to the holidays in December, when the Omicron outbreak took hold, a record-shattering 138,449 Macomb residents successfully sought Covid tests. Some 273 deaths were recorded in December alone.
If the January numbers for positive Covid tests continue on the same trajectory as in the first 10 days of this month, those testing positive could exceed 61,000, nearly double the record rate set last month.
Last week, four Macomb school districts required all students, teachers, staff and visitors to wear masks while at their schools until the end of January.
Citing rising Covid cases, the Roseville, Anchor Bay, Lakeview New Haven school districts have new mask mandates. Previously, the Clintondale, South Lake, Eastpointe, Warren Consolidated, Van Dyke, Center Line, Macomb Intermediate School District, Mount Clemens and Fitzgerald implemented mask mandates on school property.
Neighboring Oakland and Wayne counties implemented school mask requirements but Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel has resisted any such rules.
Two Macomb County schools were among the seven that reported Covid outbreaks on Monday.
They included Fraser High School, which had six cases, and Warren Mott High School with five. In both instances, the cases were confined to students. No school outbreaks were reported in nearby Oakland and St. Clair counties while two came from schools located in the City of Detroit.
Michigan hospitals reported a record number of Covid patients Monday, surpassing the peak from nearly a month ago before the state’s daily already-high infection counts surged to new heights due to the more contagious Omicron variant.
According to the Associated Press, roughly 4,900 people have been hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus, including 4,580 adults with a positive test. The previous pandemic high for adults with a confirmed infection was 4,518 on Dec. 13, before a two-week decline and then an increase that started after Christmas.
Michigan had six Covid deaths per 100,000 residents in the past week, the seventh-highest among all states. Beaumont Health, a large hospital system in the Detroit area, has said it is at a “breaking point” due in part to staff out sick or in quarantine, and urged the public to be vaccinated, get a booster shot and wear a mask.
Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, called the record figure “a grim milestone that demonstrates the immense stress on our hospitals throughout the state.”
It’s not because people AREN’T vaccinated. It because the vaccine does not do what is was supposed to.
My husband, myself and many more are vaccinated, boosted and still got it!
Stop sensationalizing everything trying to put the fear of God into everyone. 3000 deaths out of 873,972 residents is 0.003. On average 8543 people die in Macomb county Michigan every year. Very sorry for the 3000 deaths due to Covid but how many were there total? More than our annual of 8543?
There is an estimated 40,000,000 commercial air plane flights per year in the U.S. If there were .003 crashes of that figure per year which comes out to 120,000, would you feel safe with that figure?