The number of new COVID-19 positives took a significant jump Thursday, both locally and throughout the region.

The Dickinson-Iron District Health Department posted two new cases in Dickinson County, bringing its total to eight, plus a new case in Iron County.

The Iron County Medical Care Facility in Crystal Falls confirmed an employee had tested positive for COVID-19.

“It is thought that this employee has not worked since being exposed,” spokeswoman Lindsey Anderson stated in a news release Thursday.

“The facility has reported the positive employee case to all appropriate agencies,” she continued. “We are implementing weekly testing of all residents and staff. Please be assured we are doing our best to keep residents, tenants and staff safe.”

No additional information was provided on the new Dickinson County cases.

On the Wisconsin side of the border, Marinette County Health and Human Services posted Thursday on its website that it had four new positives. The county has 4,672 residents who have been tested, with 64 positive, three deaths, 4,546 negative and 62 results pending.

Elsewhere in the Upper Peninsula, state health officials showed Marquette County with five new positives, Houghton County with two additional, and Menominee and Delta counties with a single new case each, plus a new probable in Delta County as well.

For the U.P., the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ data site Thursday listed Keweenaw County with one confirmed virus case; Luce County with three confirmed cases; Alger County three confirmed cases and one probable; Schoolcraft County four

confirmed cases; Baraga County five confirmed cases; Iron County six confirmed cases and one death; Dickinson County six confirmed cases, one probable and two deaths; Gogebic County seven confirmed cases and a death; Mackinac County nine confirmed cases; Chippewa County 10 confirmed cases and one probable; Houghton County 13 confirmed cases and one probable; Menominee County 16 confirmed cases and one probable; Delta County 22 confirmed cases, four probable and three deaths; and Marquette County 70 confirmed cases and 11 deaths. The Dickinson total does not reflect Thursday’s two new cases; state numbers are updated daily but can lag behind local reports.

The MDHHS also earlier separately had prison inmates as positive in Luce and Chippewa counties.

Using state figures, the Upper Peninsula as of Thursday afternoon had 177 confirmed positives and 18 deaths. Ontonagon remains the only county in the Upper Peninsula and in Michigan not to have at least one positive coronavirus test.

The MDHHS reported 543 confirmed new COVID-19 cases statewide Thursday for a total of 64,675 to date. The state had 15 new deaths — which included 13 deaths that happened earlier but were confirmed through vital records and testing — for 5,966 to date.

The Dickinson-Iron District Health Department on Thursday listed eight cases for Dickinson County, with two deaths, four recoveries and two active cases; and six cases in Iron County, with one death, two recovered and three active cases.

Dickinson County Healthcare System on Thursday showed four cases from Dickinson County and eight cases from other counties; those counties are not identified. DCHS has tested 1,239 people for COVID-19, with 12 positive, 1,210 negative and 17 results still pending. DCHS noted there are several additional sources of testing in Dickinson County.

For the Wisconsin counties in the region, the state Department of Health Services’ COVID-19 data site Thursday listed Marinette County with 60 cases and three deaths; Forest County 39 cases and three deaths; Vilas County 10 cases; Iron County seven cases and a death; and Florence County three cases. As with the Michigan data, the state numbers are updated daily but can lag behind local reports.

Wisconsin on Thursday had 539 new cases for a total of 29,738 to date. The state had seven new COVID-19 deaths to reach 793, according to the DHS data site.