Michigan, Detroit COVID-19 cases ‘continuing in the right direction’ – The Detroit News

Michigan's death toll from the novel coronavirus reached 4,880 on Saturday after the state added 55 deathsto its count.

The state also confirmed 425 new cases of the illness COVID-19, bringing its cumulative total cases to 50,500, according to state data.

The number of deaths is an increase from Friday when the state recorded 38 new deaths. There was, however, a delay from the state in reporting and the deaths may not have occurred from Friday.

An electronic billboard in downtown Lansing encourages residents to "stay home" amid the COVID-19 pandemic.(Photo: Craig Mauger / The Detroit News)

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan exceeded 50,000this week, but daily reports of new deaths have slowed in recent days.

In the last seven days, the state has reported 432 new deaths, down from 527 new deaths during the week prior. Two weeks earlier, April 25 through May 1, the state reported 781 new deaths.

Detroit's Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair said there were two deaths in the cityaccounted for Friday and data remains fluid as state and local hospitals review and update death records attributable to COVID-19.

"Our overall week-to-week trend is continuing in the right direction," Fair said in a statement Saturday.

Detroit added 675 cases in the past week, 92 cases from Friday,bringing the total of cases to 10,351 on Saturday.

The city's death toll reached 1,257,adding 44 deaths in the past seven days showcasing adecline in deaths from the week prior, according to the city's data.

The newest data on COVID-19 testing in Michigan available showed a spike in testing on Wednesday. The state reported 23,647 tests performed Wednesday, the most in a single day yet.

According to the state's numbers, 10.7% of the tests returned positive results. Michigan had previously reported 12 straight days with less than 10% of tests being positive. The state's overall fatality rate is 10% with the average age of victims being 75 years old.

Michigan continued Friday to rank seventh nationally for the number of cases and fourth for the number of deaths, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University. In deaths, Michigan was behind New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

As of Friday, 28,234 Michigan residents were considered "recovered" from COVID-19, meaning they were still alive 30 days after the onset of illness. The department doesn't have data on recoveries by county.

"In the past seven days, we have lost 44 Detroiters to the virus, considerably less than 67 reported the previous seven days," Fair said."I applaud the unwavering spirit of Detroiters who are taking this crisis seriously by wearing their mask, social distancing and other precautions to beat COVID-19 in our community."

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_

Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/16/michigan-detroit-covid-19-cases-continuing-right-direction/5201706002/

View post:

Michigan, Detroit COVID-19 cases 'continuing in the right direction' - The Detroit News