Every Michigan county now has had at least one COVID-19 case

Lansing — Michigan reported Monday fewer than 300 new cases of COVID-19 for the first time in five days, but the virus has now touched every county, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Amid spikes in cases in other states and increases here, Michigan revealed 297 new cases of the novel coronavirus and three new deaths linked to it in its daily report. The state has now confirmed 66,173 cases and 5,975 deaths, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

When "probable" cases and deaths are included, the totals rise to 73,267 and 6,221.

Over the weekend, the final Michigan county without a confirmed case of COVID-19, Ontonagon County, saw its first confirmation. The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department revealed the positive case in a Saturday press release.

“We will be closely monitoring any individuals who may have had direct, personal contact with the identified case, such as household contacts,” said Kate Beer, health officer at the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department. “Please remember this is a time for us to support each other and work together to reduce any possible spread of illness in our community.”

The new numbers Monday came after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer retweeted a report from CNN about a hospital in Texas being overwhelmed by patients with COVID-19.

"Reminder: We are in the middle of a global pandemic. If we are careless, Michigan could suffer the same fate," she tweeted. "Our frontliners put their lives on the line, and we owe it to them to do everything in our power to ensure they do not face impossible choices like this."

New COVID-19 cases in Michigan have increased in recent days after spiking in April.

Last week, the state reported 2,524 new cases, a six-week high, according to the state's data. Still, the tally is less than half of the total for any week in April.

Likewise, the number of new deaths linked to the virus has remained low in recent weeks and the weekly percentage of tests returning positive results has crept upward but has been under 3% for four weeks now.

Last week, the state reported 65 new deaths, up from 64 new deaths the previous week. But those weekly totals are the two lowest since March.

As of Thursday, the state had tracked 315 hospitalized inpatients with COVID-19. In mid-April, Michigan had about 3,900 people in the hospital with COVID-19

While Michigan has experienced increases in new COVID-19 cases in recent days, the increases are small compared with what's happening in other states.

Michigan, which once ranked third for cases and deaths nationally, now ranks 12th for cases and seventh for deaths linked to the virus, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University.

As of Friday, 52,841 people had recovered from the coronavirus in Michigan, meaning they were alive 30 days after the onset of symptoms, according to the state's data.

cmauger@detroitnews.com