KENT COUNTY, Mich. — COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some parts the country more than others so how does our own state compare?
The COVID rates across the state aren't increasing or decreasing right now. Instead they've plateaued in certain areas, although experts are keeping a close eye on one thing.
In southern states such as Florida and Texas, cases have been increasing though that can be attributed to several factors.
"The southern states school go back to school a little bit earlier," said Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). "In some states school has already started and they are indoors because of the intense heat so they're seeing more COVID-19 transmission a little bit earlier."
The baseline for COVID rates in Michigan is really low currently.
"We're seeing plateaus in our hospital admission rates. We're seeing plateaus in our deaths so rates aren't going down. They're at a low baseline so we're seeing increases in something called reproductive member which is an indication cases will go up in the near future so we're keeping a close eye on that."
Kent County cases have been stable for several weeks.
"Our confirmed cases average seven per day so it's very low but everybody doesn't get a confirmed test so it's really hard to determine the actual amount. If we were surging we'd see an increase in confirmed cases as an indicator in the increase in overall cases and we haven't seen that," said Cathy Armstrong, Supervisor of the Kent County Health Department.
The state is tracking the EG5 variant which is transmitting in the patient population and in wastewater.
EG5 is an offshoot of the omicron variant and descendant of the XBB strain.
"The EG5 variant is something we're tracking very closely. There are definitely cases of that variant transmitting and something we do is we track what's happening both in our patient populations in terms of variants and what's happening in waste water so we're keeping a close eye on what's happening with those variants."
The new booster vaccine is expected to come out in mid-September and October and it's unsure who will eligible at this time.
Free COVID tests are also available at the Kent County Health Department.
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