Michigan has passed a grim COVID-19 milestone.
On Friday, the state reported a total of 20,011 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Michigan's first confirmed death was in March 2020.
The number of daily deaths has steadily decreased in the state since late April, when vaccinations became more widely available. The current weekly average as at 3.86 deaths per day, while the weekly average number of cases has started to increase again due to the more-contagious delta variant of the virus.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Michigan have been slowly rising for the past four weeks. As of August 14, 749 patients are in Michigan hospitals for COVID-19.
Throughout the U.S., it has become clear that the COVID-19 vaccine has been effective at reducing the number of cases and deaths. Nationwide trends show that the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths now are among people who are unvaccinated.
The total number of confirmed-positive COVID-19 cases in Michigan is nearly 920,000. The state currently updates its COVID numbers every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
