GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Michigan has recorded another 108 deaths linked to coronavirus bringing the total to 3,085.
Data released Friday afternoon also shows an additional 1,350 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, bringing the total statewide to 36,641.
The outbreak is the worst in and around metro Detroit. In Wayne County, including the city, has recorded 15,407 confirmed cases (413 more than the day previous) and 1,443 people have died (47 more than the day previous). Oakland County has 6,804 cases and 585 deaths. Macomb County has 5,022 cases and 504 deaths.
In Genesee County, where Flint is, there are 1,434 cases and 151 deaths.
Within the Michigan Department of Corrections, 973 people have contracted the virus (an increase of 214 over the day previous) and 28 inmates have died.
MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz confirmed to News 8 that inmates at Lakeland Correctional Facility near Coldwater account for some 600 of the department’s total cases. Lakeland houses about 1,400 prisoners, many of whom are older or have preexisting medical conditions. Gautz said the Lakeland inmates who test positive are being kept away from others.
Some inmates who test positive are being sent to prisons in Jackson, Carson City or, most recently, Whitmore Lake. Gautz said Carson City can take 120 inmates and is “pretty full.” The Whitmore Lake facility is taking some Lakeland patients who officials are most concerned about so they will be close to Ann Arbor hospitals, rather than strain smaller hospitals in Branch County.
Kent County saw two more deaths for a total of 29. With another 91 confirmed cases from the day previous, it now has 906 cases. That’s the third large jump this week.
There were four additional deaths in Calhoun County for a total of 10. That county has 190 confirmed cases.
Both Muskegon and Ottawa counties had one more death, bringing the totals to 13 and eight, respectively. Muskegon County has 204 confirmed cases and Ottawa County 167.
Allegan County recorded its first death. County health officials said Friday they had 61 confirmed cases.
Even in metro Detroit, there are enough hospital beds and ventilators for everyone who needs one, data compiled by the state shows. The state is also now providing a breakdown of exactly how many patients several Michigan hospital systems are treating and how much personal protection equipment they have on hand.
In Grand Rapids, Spectrum Health reported 91 COVID-19 inpatients, 18 of whom are in intensive care. Metro Health – University of Michigan Health System has seven patients, one of them in the ICU. Bronson Healthcare hospitals are treating 34 patients, 16 of home are in intensive care. Holland Hospital has 10 patients, four of them in the ICU. North Ottawa Community Hospital has one patient and that person is in intensive care.
All major West Michigan hospitals have enough PPE on hand for at least a week, with most reporting they are set for three weeks.
Also Friday, a second field hospital at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi opened. Set up in about 15 days by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and staffed by Ascension Michigan and Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, it has room for 250 patients.
The first field hospital at the TCF (formerly Cobo) Center in Detroit opened two weeks ago and can house 970 patients.
Both field hospitals are taking only medically stable patients. Intensive care patients and those on ventilators will still be treated at regular hospitals.
Suburban Center Showcase in Novi, which was turned into a field hospital to treat coronavirus patients. (Courtesy state of Michigan) 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tours the field hospital constructed at Suburban Center Showcase in Novi. (Courtesy state of Michigan) 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tours the field hospital constructed at Suburban Center Showcase in Novi. (Courtesy state of Michigan)
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has extended her stay-at-home order through May 15. Under it, people must now wear masks while in places like grocery stores.
Places like gyms, movie theaters and restaurant dining rooms must remain closed, but the revised order also immediately loosened several other restrictions. Landscaping companies and plant nurseries may reopen, nonessential businesses can now offer curbside service, and big-box stores are permitted to resume selling things like paint and flooring.
Whitmer says the extension is meant to keep the number of coronavirus cases manageable and prevent what she says would be a “devastating” second wave of infections.
COVID-19 presents with a fever, cough and shortness of breath. For most who contract it, symptoms are mild. Though anyone can get it and anyone can develop a serious case, the people most at risk to develop severe complications are older people and those with preexisting health problems.
Everyone who has coronavirus symptoms and essential workers who are not showing symptoms can now get tested. You can find a testing location near you on the state’s website and get information on how to set up an appointment.
On Wednesday, the most day for which state data is available, labs in Michigan tested 7,368 samples for coronavirus and 16.9% of them came back positive. That;s the most tests run in a single day so far. The last time Michigan tested close to that number of samples (7,308 on March 30), 24% came back positive.
The state says it wants to run as many as 15,000 tests daily, saying that’s the standard to find most infected people and isolate them to slow the spread. People who test positive will have to stay away from others for at least seven days and, beyond that, not leave their homes until they have been symptom-free for three days.
