The anticipated spike in COVID-19 cases after Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to have materialized in Ingham County.
It was expected that people would gather for the Thanksgiving holiday and then COVID would spread. Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail says that spike in positive cases hasn’t appeared. She says some may see the leveling off as a reason to ignore safety measures, adding “for the people who disregarded all the rules and said I’m traveling anyway, I’m having my gathering anyway, they’re going to say see? That wasn’t a problem after all, so we’re going to do it again.”
Vail went on to say that some people may have traveled over Thanksgiving, especially students, and maynot have returned to the county, so there might be cases related to that that have not been recorded.
There have been almost 11-thousand reported COVID cases in Ingham County since the pandemic began, with 153 deaths. Currently, 133 people are hospitalized with COVID at Sparrow and McLaren hospitals in Lansing, with 21 in intensive care and 25 on ventilators.
With the COVID vaccine rolling out, Vail advises the public to get a flu shot as soon as possible. The COVID vaccine cannot be given too soon after receiving a flu shot.