Michigan is hanging tight to its position as a national hotspot for COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations at a time when more than half the U.S. adult population has been vaccinated and other states have seen the virus diminish substantially.
Medical professionals point to more contagious variants, the state's pullback on restrictions to limit crowds and COVID fatigue as reasons for the surge, especially in rural, northern parts of the state that had largely avoided severe outbreaks.
Michigan has posted more new COVID-19 cases than any other state in the country over the past two weeks, which is all the more striking considering it has a much smaller population than bigger states like California and Texas.
Those states don’t have anywhere near the cases as Michigan.
Michigan resumed use of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine over the weekend, following a green light from federal health officials.
