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Michigan Officials Report 6,290 New COVID-19 Cases, 145 Deaths

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Michigan health officials are reporting 6,290 new cases of the coronavirus and 145 additional COVID-19 deaths. Of the 145 deaths, 51 were identified during a vital records review.

Michigan has now had 320,506 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 8,688 COVID-19 deaths.

Monday the state was at 314,216 confirmed cases with 8,543 deaths.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is now providing weekly updates on the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19. These numbers are updated every Saturday.

As of November 20, 152,267 are being reported as recovered in Michigan.

The state defines ‘recovered’ as the number of persons with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who are alive 30 days post-onset (or referral date if onset is not available).

Have you wondered recently why you haven’t seen nearly as many possible exposure sites listed anymore?

That’s because cases are getting so bad, contact tracing put too much strain on too many local health departments.

Here’s what District Health Department #10 says you can do yourself.

“At this time, the public must take responsibility for their own actions that could potentially put others at risk. If you choose to go out in public, whether to a grocery store, a restaurant, a church, a social gathering or event, or are simply visiting friends or family outside of your household, you must assume that someone could potentially be present who is contagious with COVID-19. You should always be monitoring for symptoms and consider getting testing if symptoms appear.”

District Health Department #10 says they will no longer publish potential exposure sites.

“We did not come to this decision lightly,” said Kevin Hughes, Health Officer for DHD#10. “The decision was made because we can no longer extend our limited resources to investigating potential exposures. Being that we are now eight months into this pandemic, and cases are significantly on the rise, we must focus our efforts on case investigation and contact tracing.”

The U.S. is starting to distribute Regeneron, the antibody combination that was instrumental in President Trump’s COVID-19 recovery.

30,000 courses are set for distribution Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration is also taking steps to approve two coronavirus vaccines. It’s planned multiple meetings with the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee.

A meeting focusing on Pfizer’s application for emergency use of its vaccine is on Dec. 10. The hope is health workers can start administering the Pfizer vaccine by the middle of December.

Moderna is still waiting on some more data, but says it could apply for emergency authorization as early as next week. Meetings to discuss Moderna’s vaccine are expected for Dec. 17 and 18.

Both companies claim their vaccines are about 95% effective.

And British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca says its vaccine is showing 90% effectiveness. It’s unclear when that company will apply for approval.

Doctors in Northern Michigan say it will still be several months before a vaccine is widely available, but discussions about distributing it are already happening.

“There’s actually been conversations ongoing with the state and the state with CDC for a few months now, they’ve been talking since the summer knowing that this was coming and how things were going to happen.”

Doctors say until a vaccine becomes widely available, things like masks and social distancing are some of the best tools to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

For the latest coronavirus news, public exposure sites and additional resources,

 

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