As vaccines continue to roll out, the hope of “normalcy” is all the buzz. Health officials in the greater Lansing area, however, are asking for a few more weeks of doubling down on protections against the Coronavirus to contain the latest surge impacting the state.
In our own neighborhoods, cases have gone up 12.9% in the past week across Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, and Jackson counties per the state’s reporting.
Ingham County’s Health Officer Linda Vail says the county is experiencing abnormally high positivity rates.
“We currently have the highest positivity rate we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic,” Vail said.
Since March 29, Clinton County confirmed 121 new cases with no confirmed COVID deaths. Eaton County added 270 confirmed cases and one death. Ingham County identified 551 new confirmed cases and seven COVID-19 deaths. Jackson County saw 379 new confirmed cases of the virus and one new COVID-19 death.
Health officials say the surge could be the result of a perfect storm of circumstances with the more transmissible B.117 variant, COVID-fatigue, and the reintroduction of certain businesses and activities under the state’s reopening status.
Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer doubled the goal for daily doses administered from 50,000 to 100,000. All Michiganders aged 16 and older are officially eligible for the vaccine.
Over the past seven days, Clinton County has administered over 3,500 doses of the vaccine. Eaton and Jackson counties have each put more than 7,000 shots in arms. Ingham County is leading the vaccination efforts in our neighborhoods with more than 17,000 doses administered. In Ingham County, over 90,000 residents have been vaccinated since December.
“At 90,002, we are 53% of the way to accomplishing our goal of having 70% of our eligible population vaccinated,” Vail said.
As more people continue to get their vaccinations, the state will move toward herd immunity but until Michigan sees a larger part of the population vaccinated, Vail says prevention has to be a top priority for everyone.
“When there’s broad transmission like there is now and there’s not enough people vaccinated, that does increase the risk that a vaccinated person could contract the virus,” Vail said.
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