ESCANABA — Both cases of COVID-19 in Delta County and the amount of detectable DNA from the virus responsible for the disease in Escanaba’s sewer water have plunged to near-lows, but a series of previously-unreported deaths in the peninsula suggest 2025 has been more deadly than originally thought.

Only one new death was reported for the week of Feb. 22 in the Upper Peninsula. That death took place in Marquette County. However, five older U.P. deaths have been added to the state’s COVID-19 tracking dashboard, which reports the number of deaths identified by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The five additional deaths are from Delta County (one death), Schoolcraft County (one death), and Chippewa County (three deaths).

The new data brings the total number of deaths from the virus for 2025 to 13, which is down from the 17 deaths seen in the same period of 2024. For 2025, Delta County and Chippewa County are tied as the most deadly U.P. counties, with four deaths each.

New deaths are occasionally added to the state’s reporting system weeks after they occurred. A number of scenarios can lead to the delay, but late additions are often the result of MDHHS gathering additional information about prior deaths.

Based on the most recent information from MDHHS, the number of cases of COVID-19 identified in healthcare settings has plummeted in Delta County over the last few weeks, dropping from a high of 46 cases the week of Feb. 8, to 17 the week of Feb. 15, and only 6 the week of Feb. 22.

Looking at the amount of viral DNA in Escanaba’s wastewater reveals a similar picture. The last two samples submitted by the Escanaba Wastewater Treatment Plant to Sentinel Wastewater Epidemiology Evaluation Project (SWEEP) contained more viral DNA than only 10% and 21% of all samples submitted to the project since the city began participating in August of 2021. The samples were dated for Feb. 17 and Feb. 12, respectively.

Only two samples submitted by the wastewater plant in 2025 contained less DNA, a sample from Jan. 8 and a sample from Jan. 20, which contained 9% and 2% respectively. However, both samples were recorded between significantly higher samples and did not follow any predictable trend. The Feb. 17 sample follows a more gradual, consistent decline that began Feb. 5.

While SWEEP data serves as a good barometer of COVID-19 activity, it is impossible to determine the number of sick individuals or the severity of illness based on wastewater alone.

For the week of Feb. 22, the number of cases of COVID-19 identified by MDHHS in healthcare settings across the peninsula is as follows:

Gogebic – 6

Ontonagon – 0

Houghton – 2

Keweenaw – 0

Iron – 3

Baraga – 2

Dickinson – 10

Marquette – 14

Menominee – 8

Delta – 6

Alger – 1

Schoolcraft – 7

Luce – 1

Mackinac – 1

Chippewa – 0

The number of total deaths in the peninsula that had been reported since the beginning of 2025 as of Thursday was 13. Those deaths took place in the following counties:

Gogebic – 1

Dickinson – 1

Marquette – 2

Delta – 4

Schoolcraft – 1

Chippewa – 4