56 percent of COVID-19 cases in county among 10-29 year olds
Isabella County reported 414 new COVID-19 cases April 5-11. The highest age group was April 20-29. Information from the Mid-Michigan District Health Department
The Central Michigan District Health Department (CMDHD) reported 414 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Isabella County April 5-11.
Of the 414 newly reported cases in the county, about 33 percent were among the 20-29 age group and about 23 percent among the 10-19 age group, according to CMDHD. Individuals 10-29 make up about 56 percent of the week's cases.
Mount Pleasant is once again ranked first among United States cities with the fastest-rising cases in metro areas as of April 12, according to The New York Times' daily COVID-19 monitoring update.
Central Michigan University reported 100 new COVID-19 cases April 5-11, the highest number of weekly reported cases for the Spring 2021 semester.
Since there aren't many large, specific events in the area, CMDHD Medical Director Jennifer Morse said "it's really hard to be for sure" what is causing a surge in new cases.
Morse said a portion of the new cases come from K-12 schools scattered throughout several different school districts, even some in other counties.
"Our young individuals are gathering together more, doing more things together and may have traveled more recently," Morse said. "Our older individuals may be going out to restaurants or bars together, going to the movies and just doing things more since restrictions have been lifted and athletics have been reinstated."
The number of cases among the county's older demographic has gone down as vaccination percentages within that group increase.
"The outbreaks in our long-term care facilities have dramatically decreased," Morse said. "They used to always be the biggest number of outbreaks in Michigan."
Isabella County has 19,092 people - 32.3 percent of the county's population - at least partially vaccinated, according to the Michigan Government COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard.
