December opens with a dramatic Covid benchmark in Michigan. The addition of 190 pandemic-related deaths is the largest toll since mid-April at the outbreak's previous peak.
The latest figure reflects 160 deaths Monday and 30 earlier ones linked to the coronavirus after a review of records from counties. It surpasses the April 16 total of 164.
Covid deaths rose by nearly 1,800 last month in Michigan.
Confirmed Covid deaths by Lower Peninsula counties since March. (Graphic: Department of Health and Human Services)
Since mid-March, Michagan's health department has recorded 9,334 confirmed Covid fatalities, with 435 more classified as "probable" coronavirus casualties.
Wayne County, including Detroit, has lost 3,237 people -- 34.7% of the confirmed statewide total.
► Michigan officials brace for post-Thanksgiving Covid spike
Tuesday's tally of newly confirmed cases is 5,793. Hospitals are treating 4,289 adults for confirmed and suspected Covid-19 infections, with 874 of those patients requiring intensive care.
Overall, 366,242 people have been diagnosed with Covid in under nine months. That cumulative total includes 165,269 "recovered" patients as of last Wednesday -- 45 percent of cases recorded by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Original post, Tuesday morning:
Our state's cumulative count of Covid-19 infections doubled last month, rising 102% from 178,180 confirmed cases Oct. 31 to 360,449 on Monday.
Michigan Radio reports those numbers starkly: "November has been a dreadful month when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan."
Nearly half of all Covid patients statewide have recovered. (Photo: Beaumont Health)
Fatalities since mid-March rose from 7,340 at the end of October to 9,134 as November wrapped up. Last month's nearly 1,800 pandemic deaths were a 24-percent increase in four weeks and the largest toll since April, when 3,500 died at the plague's peak.
Covid is the state's third-leading cause of death this year after heart disease and cancer, Bridge Michigan reports. (Those medical killers each take more than 20,000 lives statewide most years.)
Lansing's latest daily figures list 10,428 new Covid cases and 98 deaths for Sunday and Monday. The health agency adds 98 deaths in the two-day stretch.
Michigan had the nation's fifth-highest number of cases and the fourth-highest number of deaths nationally in the last seven days.
