The death rate continues to rise in Kent County as health Tuesday released the latest COVID-19 data. On Tuesday, health officials reported nearly 5,000 new cases and 58 more related deaths. And Kent County reported another death bringing its total to 691.
The Tuesday update brings the total number of confirmed cases in Michigan to 707,463 since the virus was first detected here in March 2020 and the total number of associated deaths to 16,297.
Meanwhile, health officials in Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties are all dealing with a reluctance by a large portion of the population to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Dr. Adam London is Kent County’s Administrative Health Officer. He says that people must understand the vaccines are not only safe, they are the quickest way to ending the pandemic and getting things back to a more normal way of life.
Health officials blame faster spreading COVID-19 variants for the recent surge across the state. Michigan leads the nation in the number of new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks.