News Bite

Official Implies Low Youth Vaccination Rates Sent More To Hospital; His Region Had Two

In August just two in Allegan, Barry, Calhoun, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren and Kalamazoo counties

The news site MLive carried a story on Sept. 23 under the headline: “Most COVID-19 cases per-capita in Michigan are people under 30.”

The article included an August quote from Gillian Conrad, communications manager for the Berrien County Health Department: “Our younger adults, teens and below who have not been vaccinated, that’s what we’re seeing hospitalizations occur, and they are the population with the lowest vaccination rates.”

Berrien County is one of nine counties in what the state designates as Region 5 in its epidemic management plans.

As of Sept. 20, there was just one confirmed pediatric case of COVID-related hospitalization in Region 5.

From Aug. 3 through Aug. 31, state data indicates there were just two individuals age 19 or younger hospitalized for COVID-19 in the region’s nine counties: Allegan, Barry, Calhoun, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren and Kalamazoo. The figure was 2% of all COVID hospitalizations in the region over that period.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.