May 4, 2021
The percentage of Berrien County COVID-19 tests that come back positive is now about 12% as cases decline following a peak a few weeks ago. Berrien County Health Officer Nicki Britten said during a Tuesday COVID update the picture is looking better.
“Our hospitalization rates are decreasing, our case rates are decreasing, our deaths are definitely down,” Britten said. “All of those things working together give us a good picture. I don’t want people to get too hung up on a double digit percent positive rate.”
However, Spectrum Health Lakeland President Loren Hamel warned COVID will be around for a while. First, he said with the extreme outbreaks in places like India, there will be more variants, and then there are those who aren’t getting vaccinated. Hamel urged people to get vaccinated, saying just because deaths have slowed, that doesn’t mean there’s no threat.
April 14, 2021
Berrien County’s COVID-19 rates are currently about double what they were a month ago as the effort to get vaccines distributed continues. During a Wednesday update, Berrien County Health Officer Nicki Britten said a silver lining is that the rate is still lower than it was last fall. She also noted most of the new cases are with younger patient as the older population gets vaccinated. As for the governor’s request that schools voluntarily close, Britten said schools are relatively safe and not where most COVID cases originate. Spectrum Health Lakeland CEO Loren Hamel talked about hospitalizations.
Several southwest Michigan school districts will stay the course after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced last week recommendations for a two week pause of in-person learning among high schools returning from spring break this week.
The governor brought her recommendation as Michigan leads the country in the highest rate of new coronavirus infections, reaching levels similar to this winterâs surge that temporarily pushed some schools back into remote learning.
The Berrien County Health Department is not recommending that districts in its area move to virtual learning since increases in confirmed COVID-19 cases have not mirrored the same spike seen across the state.