Michigan's latest COVID-19 wave is hitting people in their 30s and 40s especially hard

Nurse in Royal Oaks, Michigan
(Image credit: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tamed in much of the U.S., but not in Michigan. Hospitals are full or filling up across the state, and "unlike previous surges, it now is younger and middle-aged adults — not their parents and grandparents — who are taking up many of Michigan's hospital beds," The New York Times reports. "Michigan hospitals are now admitting about twice as many coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s as they were during the fall peak, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association."

Michigan has recorded 91,000 new COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, more than California and Texas combined, The Associated Press reports. "Doctors, medical professionals, and public health officials point to a number of factors that explain how the situation has gotten so bad in Michigan," from the high prevalence of the more contagious and deadly B.1.1.7 variant first found in Britain, to widespread abandonment of masks and social distancing — especially in the rural, northern part of the state — after extended lockdowns.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.