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Thursday night’s COVID-19 update brought more good news for the Copper Country. Released by the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department and Copper Country Strong, reports now come out only once a week. Over the past seven days, there have been 53 cases on a combined basis in Houghton, Baraga, and Keweenaw Counties.
Looking at Baraga County in particular, as it has been the local hotspot recently, COVID cases are retreating from their near-term highs. This week’s activity is down more than a dozen from the numbers released on May 6th. Things are calm in Keweenaw and Houghton. The region’s largest county is only registering three cases per day.
Total
78 more positives
12 more probable positives
122 more recoveries
40.9% fully vaccinated, up from 38.5% (1,290 more people)
Baraga County
30 more positives
4 more probable positives
57 more recoveries
37.7% fully vaccinated, up from 37.3%
Gogebic County
18 more positives
10 more recoveries
46.8% fully vaccinated, up from 44.4%
Houghton County
22 more positives
8 more probable positives
48 more recoveries
37.2% fully vaccinated, up from 34.6%
Keweenaw County
1 more positive
3 more recoveries
45.9% fully vaccinated, up from 43.3%
Ontonagon County
7 more positives
4 more recoveries
50.1% fully vaccinated, up from 47.7%
The Pfizer vaccine has recently been approved for application for 12 to 15 year olds. Keweenaw Report asked WUPHD Director Kate Beer how vaccination rates have been for teenagers above 16 who have been eligible since early April. They are significantly lower than the population as a whole.
Beer says she expects the rate to be even less than that for the newest cohort.
Those who are 75 or older, most at risk from COVID-19, are above 70% vaccinated. Overall, most communities are hovering between 45% and 55% of the eligible population having received at least one shot.
The full report is here.
