COVID-19 cases are decreasing in Berrien County. During a Friday update with the CEO of Spectrum Health Lakeland, Berrien County Health Officer Nicki Britten said the picture is looking better, even after large events like Memorial Day weekend.
“We haven’t seen that show up in the data yet, and I don’t know if that’s because many of the people who enjoy our wonderful county are from out of state and we might not know about their infections when they return home, but it’s not showing up in our data,” Britten said. “We’re still seeing new confirmed cases each day, but it’s fewer than it was a few weeks, and this week was lower than the last week was, which was lower than the week before that.”
Spectrum Health Lakeland CEO Loren Hamel said hospitalizations from COVID are down, and the hospital is now allowing some visitors. The Berrien County Health Department said Friday cases are decreasing locally, with only 21 additional infections identified in the past week. Last week, there were 35. Additionally, the percentage of tests that come back positive is down to 4.2% from 7.7% in May, and there have been no new outbreaks in nursing homes this week.
As for the statewide picture, 125 additional cases of COVID-19 have been identified around Michigan for Friday. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says that brings the total since the start of the pandemic to 59,621. There are eight additional coronavirus deaths to report for Friday with the state total now at 5,745.
