Is Michigan Reporting Groundbreaking COVID Cases?

DETROIT – Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr Frank McGeorge has kept viewers up to date and informed on all fronts. He answered your questions about the vaccine, the vaccination process and more.

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When reporting the number of COVID cases, do they include those that are breakthrough cases or are they just people who have not been vaccinated?

The number of reported COVID cases, now three times a week, includes unvaccinated cases and breakthrough cases.

Between January 15 and September 21, there were just over 500,000 identified cases of COVID in Michigan and about 6.2% of them, 30,000 were fully vaccinated people.

You reported that since January, people vaccinated have only accounted for 8% of hospitalizations. And from delta? I’ve heard that number is considerably higher now in Michigan. What are the latest percentages?

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Delta made the difference. State data shows that in the 30 days between August 23 and September 21, 18% of cases, 21% of hospitalizations and 15% of deaths were in fully vaccinated individuals.

Beyond any delta effect, these numbers require two other pieces of information to put them into context. First, the percentage of Michigan residents fully vaccinated was about 57%. If the vaccine had stopped working, we would have seen roughly the same 57% of cases, hospitalizations and deaths among those fully vaccinated.

The lower percentages among fully vaccinated people demonstrate that the vaccine still has a significant beneficial effect. The other thing to consider is understanding the math behind these statistics and why it would appear that there are more revolutionary cases now than when there were fewer people vaccinated.

When no one was vaccinated, no one could be considered a breakthrough. If 100% of people were vaccinated, any infection would be a breakthrough. Essentially, as we have vaccinated more people, a greater proportion of cases will be breakthroughs.

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Because we vaccinated the oldest and most at risk people first, it’s also likely that their immunity wanes over the months, putting them at higher risk for the delta variant. This is where booster shots will play a vital role in protecting the most vulnerable in the future.

Read: Michigan COVID Comprehensive Coverage

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