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Ingham County COVID case rates may be stabilizing, says health officer

The line on the far right of this chart indicates COVID cases in Ingham County are starting to level off after a record high.
Courtesy
/
Ingham County Health Dept.
The line on the far right of this chart indicates COVID cases in Ingham County are starting to level off after a record high.

COVID cases in Ingham County appear to be plateauing. However, officials say the vaccine booster rate remains low.

Ingham County is tracking nearly 14,000 COVID-19 cases.

Health Officer Linda Vail says the county has reached its highest percent positivity rate since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago.

Now, she says, cases are starting to stabilize.

“The city of Detroit, which got hit with omicron a little earlier than we did, is already on their way back down, and some of the East Coast states that got hit earlier than we did are already on their way back down,” said Vail. “So, there are definitely signs that this is plateauing and hopefully going to start its way back down soon.”

But Vail is concerned that less than half of all county residents who’ve received at least one vaccine dose have had a booster shot.

“When we look at breakthrough cases right now, there’s a stark difference between people who’ve had the two-vaccine series but not the booster versus people who’ve had the booster,” Vail said.

So far, Ingham County is reporting 49 COVID fatalities since the start of the year.

Kevin Lavery served as a general assignment reporter and occasional local host for Morning Edition and All Things Considered before retiring in 2023.
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