Dickinson and Iron counties are now enduring higher levels of COVID-19 activity than at any other point of the two-year pandemic, a local health official said Thursday.

Local data Thursday showed Dickinson County in the past seven days has added 330 new confirmed COVID-19 positives — plus two deaths blamed on the virus — while Iron County had 143 more cases. These numbers topped the previous week’s, which had been considered record high new cases in both counties.

Dickinson County also had 235 probable coronavirus positives and Iron County 42 probables since the last Dickinson-Iron District Health Department report Jan. 20.

In addition, Dickinson County had 103 people reclassified as recovered from the virus, while Iron County had 28 recoveries, the DIDHD listed in its Facebook post Thursday.

The DIDHD had Dickinson County at 4,649 confirmed positives and 2,222 probable cases to date, with 5,114 recovered, 99 deaths and 1,658 cases still active.

For Iron County, the agency had 2,130 confirmed cases to date and 275 probables, with 1,873 recovered, 72 deaths and 460 active cases.

Daren Deyaert, director/health officer at the DIDHD, said the highly contagious omicron variant is likely behind the surge, though the delta variant probably lingers as well.

He still recommends being vaccinated and boosted against COVID given the rapid spread, even though fully vaccinated individuals are contracting the omicron strain. He noted it remains the best way to avoid hospitalization with a more severe form of the disease.

“People think omicron, that’s nothing,” Deyaert said, but hospitals in the region and state have struggled with this latest wave of COVID patients.

The Upper Peninsula as of Thursday had 66 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 18 adults in intensive care and five on ventilators, according to Frontline UPdates JIC, a group of health care communication professionals from the U.P.

Statewide Thursday, 3,560 adults were hospitalized with COVID-19 — plus 91 pediatric patients — with 629 adults in ICU beds and 395 on ventilators.

Deyaert also pointed out that individuals who develop COVID, especially the omicron variant, likely have been shedding the virus two days before showing symptoms that might prompt getting tested, so wearing a mask in public remains a key means of slowing transmission.

The DIDHD on Thursday announced it has free KN95 masks, provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, available to the public.

The DIDHD will be closed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. today for staff training.