Maine CDC reports 346 new cases of COVID-19, 2 more deaths

Exactly a week after Thanksgiving, Maine set a record with 346 new cases of COVID-19, a sign that the post-holiday pandemic outbreak predicted by health officials has likely arrived.

Thursday was the first time daily cases exceeded 300 and the eighth time in the past 10 days that cases had eclipsed 200, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The only days with fewer than 200 cases were Thanksgiving, when the state lab was closed, and the next day, when there were fewer tests to process.

The new record surpasses the previous record set last month of 91 cases.

Washington County family doctor Dr Cathleen London said there was no doubt Thursday’s spike was linked to the holidays. She said she grew increasingly frustrated that people still didn’t take it seriously.

“How do you get people to care about everyone?” she says. “We live in a society, we don’t live on an island. I think this is the most frustrating part.

Pedestrians walked up Congress Street in downtown Portland last week. Brianna Soukup / Staff Photographer

Since the pandemic reached Maine in March, the CDC has followed 12,554 confirmed or probable cases and 220 COVID-related deaths, including two additional deaths reported Thursday, a man in his 50s from Penobscot County and a man in his 60s from Hancock County. .

So far in December, seven people have died from COVID-19. Last month, 67 deaths were recorded, the highest of any month and more than June, July, August, September and October combined.

Many of the recent deaths are residents of long-term care facilities. Rick Erb, president of the Maine Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, said the current outbreak has been much worse in homes for the elderly than in the spring.

“It’s really difficult,” he says. “All the predictions on when the surge would occur were correct. And it’s more likely to get worse. “

Erb said one of the biggest challenges right now is staffing. The number of workers who test positive or who must be quarantined due to possible exposure is increasing. He said its members were working with the state to implement training for replacement staff, but said retirement homes were “not the first place people look to work.”

“It’s a very difficult time for the staff,” Erb said. “It’s both the emotional impact and just the fatigue. It has been going on for 10 months and it really shows on people. “

The seven-day average of new daily cases was 186 on Thursday, up from 220 a week ago. But the past seven days included days of zero cases on Thanksgiving Day and 22 the next day. The seven-day average this time last month was 101 cases. Two months ago, it was 31 cases.

The number of active cases Thursday, 2,601, is 175 more than Wednesday and has more than doubled in a month. New cases have been reported in all counties except Knox. Cumberland County led the state with 60 cases, followed by York with 58, Penobscot with 53 and Oxford with 52.

As of this week, all counties in Maine except Aroostook have experienced high or substantial community transmission, defined as a rate of new cases greater than or equal to 16 per 10,000 people in the past 28 days. This time last month, there were five counties with high transmission.

The highest transmission rate is in Androscoggin County, 55 people per 10,000, followed closely by Somerset, with 52 people per 10,000. The rate of 10 people per 10,000 in Aroostook County is defined as moderate community transmission.

The Maine CDC this week counts updated cases for individual zip codes. There are now 23 postcodes with at least 100 cases, including all postcodes for Portland, as well as towns like Lewiston, Biddeford and Sanford and smaller communities like Alfred and Cape Elizabeth.

A month ago on polling day, Maine set what was then a one-day record of 127 new cases. That number has been eclipsed 27 times in the past 30 days.

There were 144 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Maine on Thursday, six more than a day earlier, including 43 in intensive care and 19 on ventilators. A month ago, there were 31 people in the hospital.

Hospitals in Maine have braced for the expected surge, and many have converted intensive care beds. Some are considering suspending elective surgeries again. And like nursing home staff, hospital workers also feel the brunt.

“Our health care teams are really starting to run out,” Dr. Joan Boomsma, chief medical officer of MaineHealth, told the Press Herald this week. “People are exhausted and as things move forward, we’re going to need everyone’s help to contain this thing.

Maine Medical Center added new restrictions on visits, effective Friday, in response to the surge in cases. The updated policy sets limits on the number of visitors for different types of inpatients and outlines procedures for drop-off and management of outpatients. COVID-19 patients are not allowed to visit except at the end of their life.

On Wednesday, the number of people hospitalized across the country exceeded 100,000 for the first time, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Additionally, the United States recorded 3,157 deaths on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University, easily breaking the record of 2,603 ​​set on April 15.

The spike in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths comes as pharmaceutical companies and the federal government prepare to allow vaccine distribution. Maine, like other states, is preparing to ship a COVID-19 vaccine, possibly as early as this month. Governor Janet Mills said on Wednesday the state had learned it would receive about 12,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine, about a third of what it expected.

“This is much less than what is needed for Maine and proportionately for other states as well,” Mills said at a press conference.

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