Since the start of July, Berrien County has seen an increase in new COVID-19 cases and the percent of COVID-19 tests coming back positive has increased as well. The trend has local health officials concerned.
Officials said the increase in cases can mostly be linked to large gatherings and parties with little to no social distancing or face masks.
Hospitalizations and deaths have not had the same upward trend as infections rates. Officials said this is because the increasing amount of infections are in people under the age of 40.
Gillian Conrad, Spokesperson for the Berrien County Health Department, said hospitalizations and death rates could start to increase soon too since those are typically a lagging indicator.
“The recent uptick certainly gives us pause and really, as health officials, we want people to still be paying attention," she said. "We are still in the midst of a pandemic globally and certainly here in the Michiana area.”
Berrien County Health officials urge people to continue social distancing when possible and to follow Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s face mask mandate.
Contact Annacaroline at acaruso@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @AnnacarolineC16
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