This State Has Now Become The Worst Hot Spot In The U.S. Amid Virus Surge

As COVID cases surge again across the U.S., a new state has emerged as the worst hot spot in the country after its coronavirus cases rose to an all-time high this week.

As of Tuesday, Michigan’s COVID case rate spiked to a seven-day rate of 503.8 per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as reported by The Daily Telegram.

Over 14,000 new cases of the virus were reported in the state on Wednesday, WILX, an NBC affiliate out of Lansing, reported.

Hospitals statewide are also being pinched as the number of COVID patients has jumped from 2,097 on Oct. 18 to 3,082 on Monday, according to state data.

John Karaskinki, a spokesman for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, said the increasing trend in COVID hospitalizations is “very concerning,” as reported by the Detroit Free Press.

“They're seeing a stark increase in hospitalizations in just the past few days," he said. "We have both this stark surge of COVID-19 patients, but we also have hospitals that have been dealing with staffing challenges and staffing shortages, as well as high volumes of non-COVID patients. And we've been seeing that pent-up demand of non-COVID admissions since this past summer.”

Ten Michigan hospitals reported as of Monday that they were at 100% capacity, while 20 more reported they were at least at 90% capacity, The Daily Telegram said.

Since the pandemic started, there have been over 1.3 million cases of the coronavirus in Michigan, and over 24,600 COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Michigan has reached Gov. Gretchen Witmer’s goal of vaccinating 70% of its adult residents, WILX said. But cases in the state are surging among children returning to in-person learning as the Delta variant is rising and breakthrough cases are becoming more common as vaccine immunity wanes.

Booster shots are being pushed by Whitmer, who recently said, “We need to build on that momentum and ensure that everyone who is fully vaccinated gets a booster, too,” as reported by WILX.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize booster shots for all fully vaccinated adults this week.

The news comes after Dr. Anthony Fauci warned of the risk of outbreaks as cold weather pushes people to spend more time indoors.