(WXYZ) — The St. Clair County Health Department has issued a public health alert after they have seen a "rapid and concerning acceleration of COVID-19."
According to the county, there have been 1,080 new cases of COVID-19 in the last six days, with a positivity rate of 20.2%.
The county is recommending that everyone who can work remotely should, and those who can't, should pre-screen employees, send sick employees home immediately, and conduct virtual training.
"Given the significant increase in cases, we must double down on our mitigation efforts," the county's medical health officer, Dr. Annette Mercatante said. "We know of at least one variant strain circulating in our community, making the virus more transmissible from person to person."
The B.1.1.7 variant has been identified in the county, and last week, three new cases of it were found.
That variant is more transmissible, and Michigan has the second-most cases of the variant in the country.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.