Michigan is now reporting its first death from the coronavirus in addition to a rising total of 336 confirmed cases.
A man in his 50s with underlying health conditions died from COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, Beaumont Health announced.
“Our medical team went to extraordinary efforts to care for this patient and we are deeply saddened by his passing and empathize with his family,” Beaumont Health Chief Nursing Officer Susan Grant said in a statement. “Our physicians, nurses and medical staff are all working together to care for COVID-19 patients. During a time like this, we are united to battle this virus.”
The man was from Wayne County, which currently has 34 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
New additional testing from commercial and clinical labs shows that the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen to 336, according to MDHHS.
“We are pleased to announce that we are now able to provide testing results from hospitals and other entities outside of our state laboratory,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health, in a statement.
In addition to the 131 cases confirmed in the MDHHS lab, 203 cases were confirmed in a hospital or university lab and two were confirmed in a commercial lab. The labs used include LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, as well as Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, the Beaumont Hospital Network and the Henry Ford Health System.
“We knew there were additional people in Michigan with COVID-19 that had not yet been tested,” Khaldun said. “This emphasizes the need to continue to practice social distancing and other community mitigation practices to help slow the spread of this disease.”
There are currently more than 10,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 150 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter for Battleground State News and The Michigan Star. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair. Email her at [email protected].
