Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By ZACHARY MARANO
HANCOCK — The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department released updated COVID-19 case counts for the five counties in their coverage area on Thursday. There was not a spike in new cases since last update, although it may be too early to see the effects of any disease transmission over the Fourth of July weekend.
According to the update, there were 41 new COVID-19 cases in Gogebic County, 33 new cases in Houghton, six new cases each in Baraga and Ontonagon and four new cases in Keweenaw in the seven days between June 28 and July 5. There was also one death in Gogebic.
This was a very slight decrease in new cases from the last update on June 28, where a total of 43 cases and one death were reported.
As of Thursday, Baraga County has a rate of 69 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, Gogebic has a rate of 259.1, Houghton has a rate of 90, Houghton has a rate of 182 and Keweenaw has a case rate of 95.3, so the western U.P. has a total of 192.2 new cases per 100,000 population.
Because Gogebic County had more than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days, the county was reclassified from a “low” to a “medium” COVID-19 community level.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a medium community level can also be determined by a seven-day total of more than 10 new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population or an average of more than 10% staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. The highest of these three metrics determines the community level.
The CDC recommends that high-risk individuals take additional precautions at medium and high community levels and all people wear a mask indoors at high levels. The CDC recommends all people stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if they have symptoms at all levels, including low.
According to the update’s overall vaccine statistics, 52% of people in Baraga, 60% of people in Gogebic, 57% of people in Houghton, 65% of people in Keweenaw and 68% of people in Ontonagon have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The COVID-19 dashboard on michigan.gov says that 68% of Michigan residents have receive one or more dose of the vaccine as of Tuesday.
The Iron County, Wisconsin health department has not posted an update since May 20, when six confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported. According to the CDC website, Iron County had a low community level as of June 30.
The last Iron County Health Department update says that 67% of the total population of Iron County have received one dose of the vaccine, 64% have completed the series and 37% were boosted. The Wisconsin COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker says that 73% of people in Wisconsin are vaccinated with at least one dose and 67% were fully vaccinated as of June 29.
