ESCANABA — The number of new cases of COVID-19 in Delta County bucked a multi-year trend last week by spiking rather than continuing the seasonal free fall seen in past years.

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which tracks new COVID-19 infections found in healthcare settings across the state, 41 new cases were reported for the week ending Feb. 8. The uptick followed two weeks of 36 cases each that bottomed-out a relatively-steady decline from the post-holiday high of 48 cases the week of Jan. 4.

In 2023 and 2024, holiday highs crashed the first week of February with the sixth week of the year — the equivalent week of the year to the most recent infection data — representing a 36.84% drop from New Year’s highs in 2023 and a 79.25% drop in the same period of 2024. This year, the difference between the holiday high and last week’s infection numbers was only a drop of 14.58%.

It’s too early to tell if the spike is the start of a greater increase in infections that could, theoretically, eclipse the post-holiday highs or if it’s simply evidence that the virus is holding on steadily. Either way, the 41 cases seen the week of Feb. 8 eclipse 2024’s 11 cases and 2023’s 24 cases seen the sixth week of those years.

It is difficult to compare infection rates from years prior to 2023 with current data due to the differences in the way infections were reported. Early in the pandemic, all identified infections were found in healthcare settings or at special testing sites that reported infection data to the state. As home testing became the norm, testing sites were phased out and many of the tracking programs were sunsetted, resulting in fewer infections being reported even during high periods of infection.

One program that still exists and provides a barometer of the virus’ activity is the Michigan Sentinel Wastewater Epidemiology Evaluation Project, also known as SWEEP. The program tracks how much DNA from the virus responsible for COVID-19 is in the wastewater for select communities across the state — including Escanaba.

According to SWEEP, the two most recent samples from the Escanaba Wastewater Treatment Plant contained more DNA from the virus than 40% and 49% of all samples collected at the plant since the city began participating in the program in August of 2021. Those samples were dated for Jan. 27 and Jan. 29, respectively.

The two samples do indicate a rise in viral activity from the Jan. 20 sample (second percentile) and the Jan. 22 sample (28th percentile), but are relatively consistent with other samples submitted in January. In total, four out of the nine samples submitted to SWEEP between Jan. 2 and the last sample on Jan. 29 were between the 41st and 49th percentile.

The samples still represent a significant decline in viral activity from Jan. 2, when more viral DNA was recorded than 73% of samples.

SWEEP’s data correlates with MDHHS’ infection data, but it’s not a perfect measure of how many infections are present in a community at any given point in time. Even within individuals, viral load can vary greatly and not all people infected with the virus show symptoms.

For the week of Feb. 8, the number of cases identified by MDHHS in the Upper Peninsula are as follows:

Gogebic – 7

Ontonagon – 2

Houghton – 7

Keweenaw – 1

Iron – 9

Baraga – 5

Dickinson – 13

Marquette – 22

Menominee – 12

Delta – 41

Alger – 0

Schoolcraft – 8

Luce – 3

Mackinac – 3

Chippewa – 6

The number of total deaths in the peninsula that had been reported since the beginning of 2025 as of Thursday was six. Those deaths took place in the following counties:

Gogebic – 1

Dickinson – 1

Marquette – 1 (new as of Feb. 8)

Delta – 2

Chippewa – 1