Courtesy Image An illustration of the coronavirus provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ALPENA — Four more Northeast Michigan residents died after being infected with COVID-19, including two Alpena County residents, one Montmorency County resident, and one Alcona County resident, local health officials reported today.

MidMichigan Health, the company that owns MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena, said today that company employees have been telephoning people eligible to receive the next round of vaccinations and vaccination appointments have filled quickly.

Residents are asked to not call the hospital or their doctor’s office to schedule appointments to keep phone lines open for patient care. Eligible residents will be called and able to schedule appointments as more vaccine doses become available, a MidMichigan Health representative said.

State data showed that, as of Monday, 1,907 doses of coronavirus vaccine had been administered in Northeast Michigan.

Public health officials today reported 18 newly infected Northeast Michiganders, including six Alpena County residents and 12 Alcona County residents.

Today’s update was the first time Alcona County figures had been updated since Friday.

According to health department data, as of today, 1,688 Northeast Michiganders were actively infected, meaning they’d been confirmed infected with COVID-19 but have not recovered or died, and could infect others.

As of Monday, 13 COVID-19 patients, three of whom were in intensive care, were hospitalized at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena, according to state data. The Alpena hospital was 43% full.

As of today, 61 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection across the state-designated, 18-county health care region that includes Alpena, Presque Isle, and Montmorency counties, according to state data.

Since the pandemic hit Michigan in mid-March, 2,228 Northeast Michiganders have been infected, according to local public health agencies. Of those, 463 have recovered and 77 have died.