With cases continuing to rise in the U.P., knowing the current COVID-19 numbers are a necessity. NMU has maintained a low positive case count, but cases in Marquette County and others nearby continue to see an increase.
At the time of writing, the Safe On Campus dashboard reports four positive COVID-19 cases. Of those positive, one is an employee, two are off-campus students and one is on-campus. There are currently six occupied quarantine and isolation rooms in Spalding Hall of the 150 available.
According to data provided by the State of Michigan, Marquette County has 432 cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths. Of those current cases, the UP Health System currently has 16 patients with four in the intensive care unit. The month of October has seen 10 positive cases so far with an average daily case count of 10 per day according to the New York Times database.
In response to counties in the U.P. seeing a dramatic increase in case, this past Friday, Oct. 2, Gov. Whitmer signed an executive order moving the region from Phase 5 to 4 of her MI Safe Start Plan. The counties in the U.P. seeing the biggest increase are Houghton county and Delta county with a combined case count of over 1,300 according to the State of Michigan. The executive order is expected to lower indoor social gatherings to 10 people or less, ask that those who can work remotely do so and increase the mask wearing mandate in schools, according to the MI Safe Start Plan.
According to the New York Times COVID-19 database, Michigan has seen an average of 983 cases per day and a total of 141,292 cases to this date. Although COVID-19 is still present in Michigan, the Michigan Supreme Court decided in a 4-3 majority opinion that Gov. Whitmer’s executive orders back to April no longer hold any basis in Michigan law. In a statement last Friday, Oct. 2, Whitmer assured Michiganders that the law does not take effect for 21 days and all COVID-19 restrictions are still Michigan law.
As a whole, the New York Times reports that the United States has seen a total of around 7,453,700 COVID-19 cases and 209,690 deaths. States like Wisconsin and North Dakota are seeing a surge in cases as cold and flu season arrives.
For more information about how to protect yourself and others follow the current CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19 safety.
