By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Two additional deaths were reported in Livingston County over the weekend due to COVID-19, according to information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

As of Sunday there were 22 residents who have died from the disease since statistics first started being collected in mid-March. Those fatalities were among 376 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, as well as 90 probable cases, which the Livingston County Health Department began reporting last week. Probable cases are individuals that have been directly linked or in close contact to a confirmed case and have symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but were not tested. That places Livingston County's case fatality rate at between 4.7 and 5.8%, depending on whether you count probable cases. Meanwhile, the state's case fatality rate is 10%, which is up from 9% just last week. However, the rate of newly confirmed cases is slowing. For the three week period between April 18th and May 2nd, the county was averaging 29 new cases per week. Last week, that number had declined to just 8 new cases. Statewide, the number of hospitalizations and new infections has also trended downward in the last few weeks.

While there is no information yet available about the two new deaths, the previous 20 were all elderly residents; 11 men and nine women. So far, the county's website indicates 71 residents have been hospitalized and 284 have recovered from the virus. Statewide there were 47,138 confirmed cases and 4,551 deaths as of Sunday, while 22,686 people have recovered from the coronavirus as of Friday, May 8th.