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It's too early to declare a decisive turn in the battle against Covid, but state data show a curve rising less sharply than earlier this month. 

This afternoon's figures from Lansing list 1,366 new cases, compared to 1,749 added patients last Tuesday. The latest additions are slightly below the daily average of 1,386 since April 1.

In Detroit, 223 new cases are reported Tuesday -- down from a daily average of 392 for the previous 12 days.

Still, the lung virus claims more lives -- 166 statewide since Monday, including 130 in Metro Detroit's three counties. 

Moreover, first-time diagnoses are higher than April's average in Oakland and suburban Wayne, and just five under this month's daily average in Macomb:

  • Wayne County (outside Detroit): 338 new cases Tuesday | 267 daily average, April 1-13

  • Oakland: 291 new cases | 285 average this month

  • Macomb: 202 new cases | 207 daily average in April 


(Graphic: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services)

The state's cumulative number of lung virus diagnoses now is 27,001, up 5.3% since Monday. (Last Tuesday's increase was 10% and 14 days ago it was 17% .)

So we could approaching a plateau, as the governor and Detroit's mayor suggest.

In any event, the rolling total of cases doesn't reflect hospital discharges and recoveries. Henry Ford Health System lists 1,231 discharges of Covid patients from its five hospitals and Beaumont says 1,609 have left its eight facilities. 

In Detroit, 7,004 patients have been diagnosed as Covid-positive and 427 have died, by the state's count. (Detroit Health Department data, compiled separately, shows 7,020 cases and 424 deaths.)

Three-county deaths from the lung virus rise to 1,477, including Detroit. That's 83.5% of Michigan fatalities from the disease.

Tuesday's overall count includes 21,193 patients from Detroit and its surrounding three counties (78.5% of the state total).

Here are suburban Detroit infections and deaths since mid-March:

  • Oakland: 5,364 cases | 364 deaths

  • Wayne (except Detroit): 5,205 cases | 393 deaths

  • Macomb: 3,620 cases | 293 deaths