The total running death count from the global COVID-19 pandemic for St. Joseph County climbed from six to seven today, according to statistical charts on county and state websites. The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency (BHSJ) updates statistics daily on its website, as does the State of Michigan.

The state and county’s coronavirus statistics primarily show information about total infection numbers. Johns Hopkins University’s pandemic tracker provides some additional information and statistics. Although some of its specific totals differ from those indicated by BHSJ and the state, it shows the county’s recent rate of daily new infections to be among the highest in the state. 

This means the rate at which people have been contracting the disease is higher than it is in some other places. The most recent one-day spike occurred on July 23, when 29 new cases were reported. BHSJ and state charts show a slight leveling-off this week. Daily new case counts were less than five, including confirmed and probable cases. In recent weeks they averaged between roughly four and 10.

However, as a result of the overall trend, the county’s case number count has been climbing steadily, which means the proportion of residents who have had the disease is growing as well. It currently has one of the higher such rates in Michigan.

St. Joseph County has had 480 confirmed cases to date according to state statistics. Its population of 60,897 means that approximately one out of every 127 people in the county have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. State and county statistics show an additional 60 probable cases in the county since the pandemic began here.

Due to privacy concerns, neither BHSJ nor the state regularly provides information like names and addresses of victims of the disease or infected persons. BHSJ will, on occasion, issue a press release to notify the public of a possible exposure location if known cases can be traced to that location, if a likelihood exists that others have been exposed at that location and cannot be traced, and if it poses a high risk according to other factors.

BHSJ does issue a weekly report on cases, and it breaks down cases across the county by zip code. This week’s report was issued on Wednesday.

Watershed Voice is not aware of any press releases or other information from BHSJ about the death that affected Friday’s statistics, but will provide updated coverage should additional information come to its attention.

Dave Vago is a staff writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.