ESCANABA — Even as COVID-19 continues to claim the lives of Americans and dampen the festive spirit of the holiday season, there is a glimmer of hope in the direction the pandemic is headed — at least in the Upper Peninsula, where the rate of infection dipped in December when compared with November.

The first recorded case of the virus was on March 15. Had the U.P. been a separate state it would have been the last state in the nation to show infections, but the reprieve from the virus was short-lived. By mid-September, cases of the disease were beginning to balloon in the U.P., jumping from 1,324 confirmed cases to 3,128 between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30. During the same period, the number of U.P. deaths jumped from 19 to 37.

Infections continued to skyrocket in the coming months. From Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, the number of cases rose from 3,223 to 7,121. Eighty people died that month, bringing the U.P. death toll to 121 on Halloween. In November, cases rose from 7,183 to 12,531 — an increase of 5,348 cases. By Nov. 31, 246 Yoopers had died of the disease.

As December winds down, there is some indication the spread of the virus is slowing. Between Dec. 1 and Tuesday, Dec. 22, the number of cases rose by 1,293 and the number of deaths rose by 63 — 69.75% fewer cases and 16% fewer deaths than the same period in November.

Throughout the pandemic, Delta and Menominee counties have been known hotspots for the virus, with Delta County still leading the peninsula in the highest number of deaths as of Tuesday. The two counties, along with Dickinson and Iron, represent some of the hardest hit areas of the state based on case per million people.

Dickinson leads the state in the highest number of cases per million people at 73,983 as of Tuesday. Delta County came in second statewide, with 63,769. Iron County came in fifth with 63,468 cases per million, and Menominee came in seventh out of the state’s 83 counties with 58,055 cases per million.

In contrast, Wayne County, home of Detroit, has had 42,133 cases per million people.

Schoolcraft County had one of the lowest numbers of recorded confirmed cases in the state with 22,982 cases per million people as of Tuesday. This represents only 195 confirmed cases.

Where someone resides is only one metric worth noting when looking at infection rates, both in the U.P. and across the state. In July, when the Daily Press first reported the demographic trends of the virus in Delta County, women were more likely to get the virus, but the majority of deaths, 61%, where men. That trend shifted, and now both the majority of cases and the majority of deaths have been women. Women now represent 56% of cases and 54% of deaths.

One hundred percent of the 57 deaths that had been recorded in Delta County as of Tuesday were whites, and more than half had been residents over the age of 80. However, the two largest age groups for infections were residents in their 50s and 60s, who together represented 31% of cases in the county. Residents over the age of 80 only represented 8% of cases.

White residents — who make up the vast majority of the county’s population — also represent the majority of infections. It is worth noting that whites were also more likely to become infected with the disease than other racial groups in Delta County when population size was removed from the equation. If all racial groups were represented equally by one million Delta County residents, there would be 62,656 confirmed cases among whites, 39,604 among American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 33,133 among Blacks, and 28,169 among Asians/Pacific Islanders.

In Menominee County, women slightly outpaced men for infections, but more of the deaths in the county have been men. Women represent 52% of cases and men represent 52% of deaths, however, the number of deaths in Menominee County makes the difference less statistically significant. Thirteen men and 12 women have died in Menominee County from COVID-19, whereas 57 more women have been infected with the virus than men.

All of the deaths in Menominee have been whites age 80 or older. Whites also represented the largest single group of non-fatal cases with 1,033. However, when adjusted for population American Indians/Alaska Natives where slightly more likely than whites to contract the virus, with 50,584 cases per million to 47,773 cases per million.

Most cases in Menominee County were among people in their 50s, however, when adjusted for population size, people in their 20s and 30s were most likely to contract the virus.

Schoolcraft County has been far less impacted by the virus — at least on paper — but the number of tests conducted in the county is significantly lower than in either Delta or Menominee. As of Tuesday, 4,369 tests had been conducted in Schoolcraft, representing almost 54% of residents. In Delta County 26,719 test had been conducted (74.6% of residents), and Menominee had conducted 15,539 (68.2% of residents).

Three deaths and one probable death had been recorded in Schoolcraft County as of Tuesday, but the state dashboard did not contain any demographic information about the deceased. It did, however, indicate that women were more likely to contract the disease than men, with women representing 56% of cases in the county. Most cases were among whites, even when adjusted for population.

The majority of cases in Schoolcraft County were also among people in their 60s, but when adjusted for population, 20-somethings represented the hardest hit group.