‘Very concerned,’ about latest spike in Kent County coronavirus cases, health leader says

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A significant rise in Kent County coronavirus cases in the last few weeks has a county health leader concerned about controlling the virus’ spread.

Kent County on Wednesday, Oct. 14 had the highest number of new daily cases in the state at 185, topping Wayne County at 142 and Oakland County at 109.

Kent County is now averaging 134 new cases per day, based on a seven-day average. The seven-day average was 90 a week ago and 48 a month ago.

“It’s very concerning because we don’t know how high it’s going to go,” said Kent County Health Director Adam London.

Kent County is following a trend toward more cases across Michigan. Statewide, the seven-day average is now 1,174 cases per day, up from 879 cases per day a week ago.

But it’s not just the daily caseload on the rise. The percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19, as compared all tests administered in the county, has increased as well.

In the last week, about 4.9 percent of all COVID-19 tests given in Kent County came back positive. Through all of August and the first three weeks of September, the percentage rarely climbed above 3 percent on any given day.

In mid-August, the percentage fell below 2 percent several times on various days.

Kent County now has 10,937 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and 168 deaths.

“We’ve seen a pretty dramatic increase in cases. We’ve gone up three or four times where we were a month ago,” he said.

In fact, the new daily cases are at their highest point since the pandemic began, surpassing a spike that happened in early May when the seven-day average reached 109.

Related: Michigan reports 1,359 new coronavirus cases for Oct. 14, as fall surge gains traction

London said the surge in cases seemed to start three to four weeks ago with increasing cases in younger people, particularly those in the 19-24 age bracket. But now the surge has expanded to other age brackets, as well.

State health officials say they believe colder weather, causing people to spend more time indoors, is at least partly responsible for the state’s upward trend in cases.

London said he thinks some people also are experiencing “COVID fatigue” after dealing with the issue for eight months. They may be letting their guard down with protections such as masks, social distancing and hand-washing.

London also believes the current political polarization — with many people respecting the advice of health experts and others choosing not to — may be playing a role in the coronavirus case numbers.

“I think it’s very unfortunate that all this is happening in a presidential election year,” he said.

London said one area where cases seem to be in check are schools. The latest available data shows about 170 cases of COVID-19 tied to K-12 education in Kent County.

But among those, at least 99 were likely exposed outside the school environment. Only a handful can be tied to exposures in schools.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised so far with the schools,” London said about efforts to stop spread in classrooms.

Along with the rise in daily cases, the latest hospital data in Kent County shows more people are inpatients with COVID-19 than during the summer months.

A Spectrum Health dashboard, which shows data for all Spectrum hospitals in West Michigan, lists 89 inpatients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. In early May, the hospital system had 107 inpatients with the same diagnosis.

But in mid-August, the inpatient numbers at Spectrum fell to the mid-30s for coronavirus patients.

At Mercy Health St. Mary’s hospital, the latest data shows 16 inpatients. That’s also up from only a handful of patients in mid-August.

At Metro Health, there are 11 inpatients with COVID-19. In mid-August, there was only one inpatient.

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