ESCANABA — The Upper Peninsula marked it’s 100th death from COVID-19 Tuesday, as the south-central Upper Peninsula solidifies itself as the hardest hit region in the state based on cases per million residents.

While the counties in the U.P. have a significantly lower population than that of most counties in the Lower Peninsula, there is no doubt that the four U.P. counties identified as having the highest number of cases per million in the state have been hit hard by the virus. Iron County is the hardest hit county statewide based off the metric, with 34,527 cases per million. The remaining four counties are Delta, with 28,568; Menominee with 26,468; and Dickinson with 23,731.

Because none of the counties in the U.P. have populations over one million, a more representative measure of the virus’ spread may be the percentage of people confirmed as having the virus in each county. In Delta County, roughly 2.9% of the population has been confirmed as having had the virus; in Menominee County, that number is 2.4%; in Dickinson, 2.6%; and in Iron, 1.2%.

For comparison, Wayne County, home to Detroit, has had confirmed COVID-19 infections in just over 2% of its population.

While not a part of the region the state has identified as hardest hit, neighboring Schoolcraft County has seen less than 1% of its population get a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

It is important to note that using only confirmed cases will inherently under-report the spread of the virus. Many people who are sick do not get tested and a significant portion of people who contract the virus have no symptoms.

Based on testing, the Upper Peninsula as a whole had 5,274 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 852 probable cases, 100 deaths and 13 probable death linked to the disease, as of Tuesday according to state officials.

Delta County had a total of 1,059 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 142 probable cases and 23 deaths and three probable deaths; Menominee County had 636 confirmed cases, 79 probable cases and five deaths; Schoolcraft County had 70 confirmed cases, four probable cases and one probable death.

Elsewhere in the peninsula, Alger County had 84 confirmed cases, 27 probable cases and one death; Baraga County had 75 confirmed cases, 13 probable cases and four deaths; Chippewa County had 84 confirmed cases and 63 probable cases; Dickinson County had 621 confirmed cases, 15 probable case, 19 deaths and one probable death; Gogebic County had 285 confirmed cases, 119 probable cases, three deaths and four probable deaths; Houghton County had 777 confirmed cases, 152 probable cases, eight deaths and one probable death; Iron County had 408 confirmed cases, 33 probable cases, 22 deaths and three probable deaths; Keweenaw County had 19 confirmed cases and one probable case; Luce County had 39 confirmed cases and 16 probable cases; Mackinac County had 124 confirmed cases and 34 probable cases; Marquette County had 904 confirmed cases, 140 probable cases and 15 deaths; and Ontonagon County had 89 confirmed cases and 14 probable cases.

The state does not include infections or deaths within the Michigan Department of Corrections system in county-by-county counts.