GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Kent County saw almost 1,000 new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Monday, which amounts to about 1 in 9 new cases for the state.
Both the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo regions continue to see the state's highest positive rate in the entire state. Between 10% and 15% of all COVID cases come back as positive.
The increase in Kent County is coming from a variety of sources, including events, long-term care facilities, and exposures at work or school. Many people, however, still don't know where they contract the virus.
"There are a lot of people that are surprised that they got it, saying, 'I take precautions and do what I am supposed to do, and I don’t know where I could have picked it up,'" said Brian Hartl, epidemiologist at the Kent County Health Department.
The current daily average is about 461 new cases. That number is significant compared to the summer average of anywhere between 30 and 50 cases per day for Kent County. "I'm not ready to call this a peak yet, and we fully expect to see the numbers continue to rise," said Hartl.
The county is also seeing a small group of people testing positive for a second time, after being infected earlier in the year.
Antibodies are known to fight off a second infection for 90 days. After that three-month period, any positive test would be considered a second infection.
