The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,191 new cases of COVID-19, and 73 new deaths.

The state has a total of 49,582 COVID-19 cases, 4,787 deaths and 22,686 recovered.

• Berrien Co.: 470 cases, 180 presumed positive cases, 27 deaths, 258 recovered
• Cass Co.: 46 cases, 2 deaths, 18 recovered
• St. Joseph Co.: 79 cases, 1 death
• Van Buren Co.: 100 cases, 5 deaths, 26 recovered

The state of Michigan provided some clarification to the large increase in cases reported on Thursday:

The COVID-19 case count being reported today is a significant increase over reports from previous days. Several factors are contributing to this increase including backlogged results being reported electronically into the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS) and increased testing at correctional facilities across the state.

Today’s report of 1,191 cases includes cases from commercial labs Garcia, a lab with significant presence in Michigan’s correctional facilities and corporate environment, Orchard Technology and P4. Results from these labs were being entered manually, which led to a backlog, and are now being reported electronically into MDSS.

This backlog in reporting did not result in delays of notification to individuals with positive results as those results were transmitted separately to health care providers who are responsible for notifying individuals about their test results. 

In addition, today’s report includes 73 deaths, 35 of which were identified during a Vital Records review of death certificates. Reviews of death certificate data are conducted by Michigan Department of Health and Human Services staff three times per week. As a part of this process, records that identify COVID-19 infection as a contributing factor to death are compared against all laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in MDSS. If a death certificate is matched to a confirmed COVID-19 case and that record in the MDSS does not indicate the individual died, the MDSS record is updated and these deaths are included with mortality information posted on the website.