Michigan is experiencing its highest COVID-19 case numbers of the pandemic thus far, and the surge is largely driven by unvaccinated people.
The state has the highest case rate in the country at almost 500 new cases for every 100,000 people in the last week, and about one in five patients in Michigan hospitals are sick with Covid.
About 71 percent of Michigan's cases, 72 percent of hospitalizations, and 76 percent of deaths occurred in residents who weren't fully vaccinated between October 21 and November 19, according to state data.
Healthcare systems in the state are struggling to care for Covid patients - in addition to patients with the flu and other conditions - amid staffing shortages.
Experts are calling the situation 'dire' and encouraging Michigan residents to get vaccinated.
Experts are calling Michigan's situation 'dire' as the state sees its highest Covid case rates since the start of the pandemic. Pictured: A Covid patient is interviewed at the William Beaumont hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, April 2021
While cases have increased among fully vaccinated Michigan residents (black line) as vaccinated people make up a larger share of the population, unvaccinated people (blue line) remain at a far higher risk of infection, serious illness, and death
For the last month, Covid cases have increased sharply in Michigan.
The state currently has the highest case rate in the country, at almost 500 new cases for every 100,000 people in the week ending December 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This case rate is higher than Michigan's cases have been at any other point in the pandemic, including last winter's surge.
'The situation right here in Michigan is as dire as it has ever been since the start of this pandemic,' Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, told ABC News.
All major Covid metrics are trending up, according to the state's latest weekly data and modeling report, released on Tuesday.
Last week, Michigan reported its highest-ever number of COVID-19 infections in seven days, and this week, the state reported its second-highest number.
This slight drop is likely caused by reporting hiccups over the Thanksgiving weekend, and experts anticipate cases to rise further as the delayed reports come in.
Cases have 'skyrocketed' in the past month, Dr Darryl Elmouchi, president of the hospital system Spectrum Health West Michigan, told ABC News.
Michigan was already seeing high cases - with test positivity rates over 10 percent - prior to November, meaning the existing surge rose from a high baseline, Elmouchi said.
'This has far surpassed anything we've seen before - both in how long it's been going on, and now its seemingly never-ending peak,' he said.
'We just don't know when the end will be, and we're very worried it will have a very long tail.'
Michigan's test positivity rate is 18.9 percent as of Tuesday - meaning almost one in five Covid tests are returning positive results.
The CDC considers a test positivity rate over five percent a signifier of concerning transmission levels, and a rate over 10 percent signifies high transmission.
Covid hospitalizations are also increasing in Michigan, with 20 percent of inpatient
