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Detroit opens vaccine eligibility to all amid spiking cases

Yvonne Gibbs
Carlos Osorio/AP
FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2021, file photo, Yvonne Gibbs, 72, receives Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, at the TCF Center in Detroit. COVID-19 hit Detroit hard. Michigan, which not long ago had one of the country's lowest COVID-19 infection rates, is confronting an alarming spike that some experts worry could be a harbinger nationally. While vaccinations in Michigan are helping to protect senior citizens and other vulnerable people, the upswing is boosting hospitalizations among younger adults and threatening in-person instruction at schools. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
Yvonne Gibbs
Posted at 4:23 PM, Mar 29, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-29 16:23:20-04

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit is immediately expanding COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all residents 16 and older, a week earlier than planned, as Michigan continues to confront spiking infection rates that rank third-highest in the country.

Mayor Mike Duggan said Monday that the seven-day testing positivity rate in the state’s largest city doubled in 10 days, to 10.3%.

Hospitalizations also doubled over that period but, unlike during the second wave of cases last fall, involve younger people in their 20s, 30, 40 and 50s.

A similar trend is occurring statewide.

Also eligible are non-residents who work in Detroit.

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