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Michigan hits three month mark since confirming its first COVID19 case

"Coronavirus with Base" by nadav alsheich is licensed under CC0 1.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/CC0/1.0/
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"Coronavirus with Base" by nadav alsheich is licensed under CC0 1.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/CC0/1.0/

Three months after confirming its first case of COVID-19, Michigan's death rate is one of the highest in the nation, even as the number of new cases is falling.

We're now at about 65-thousand probable and confirmed cases statewide, with some 6-thousand deaths.

That puts us in the top ten hardest hit-states for deaths per capita, according to data from the New York Times. 

And the burden has fallen disproportionally on black people, who are just 14-percent of the state's population.

But they make up 40 percent of the deaths.

Meanwhile, the number of new daily cases has been dropping pretty much since mid-April, with just 9 new cases on Tuesday.

Kate Wells is a Peabody Award-winning journalist and co-host of the Michigan Radio and NPR podcast Believed. The series was widely ranked among the best of the year, drawing millions of downloads and numerous awards. She and co-host Lindsey Smith received the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Judges described their work as "a haunting and multifaceted account of U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s belated arrest and an intimate look at how an army of women – a detective, a prosecutor and survivors – brought down the serial sex offender."