Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have nearly tripled in Ingham County in recent weeks. Deaths are also rising.
According to the Ingham County Health Department, 117 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county, up from about 40 two weeks ago.
Still, Health Officer Linda Vail says hospitals are not “ringing the bell” that they’re about to be full. She adds that hospitalization numbers have been higher at times during the pandemic. Vail adds "we definitely need to get a handle on this transmission that’s going on and push these numbers back down, and get hospitalizations back under control.”
Vail reports that more than 83,000 people in the county will have received at least one vaccination by the end of this week, which is almost 50-percent of those age 16 and up. The department’s goal is 70-percent. “32,170 of these individuals are 65 and over," Vail concludes, "and that is approaching now 82-percent of our 65-plus population vaccinated in Ingham County.”
Vail says positive coronavirus tests have recently exceeded 100 per day.