As daily numbers rise, Maine reports 45 new cases of COVID-19

Maine reported 45 more cases of COVID-19 on Friday, adding to the increase in the seven-day average of new daily cases.

The new cases bring Maine’s total since the start of the pandemic to 69,418. There have been 878 deaths, including one – a man aged 80 or older from Kennebec County – reported on Friday.

Nationwide, public health officials have attributed a recent increase in cases to the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant, increased gatherings and delayed vaccinations. The number of new cases in Maine is still far below the daily number of cases the state saw at peaks in January and April, but the seven-day average has risen in recent weeks.

The seven-day average of new daily cases on Friday was 34.7, down from 20.7 a week ago and 22.1 two weeks ago. The seven-day positivity rate for PCR testing was 1.08. This is more than double the rate of 0.45% from nine days ago.

Androscoggin County reported the highest rate of new cases in the past two weeks with 45 total cases, just over four new cases per 10,000 population. Washington County, which has seen just three new cases in the past two weeks, reported the lowest rate of new cases at 0.96 cases per 10,000 population, according to new data from the county-by-county CDC .

Hospitalizations in the state have remained fairly stable in recent weeks. On Friday, 31 people were hospitalized, including 16 in intensive care and six on ventilation.

Vaccinations, meanwhile, have plummeted, although Maine continues to have one of the best vaccination rates in the country. As of Thursday, 59.5% of Maine’s 1.3 million people had received their last dose of the vaccine. This figure rises to 67.6% among residents 12 years of age or older who are eligible for vaccination.

The Maine CDC has tracked 560 “groundbreaking” cases of fully vaccinated people who contracted the virus, representing 0.07% of the more than 800,000 people vaccinated in the state.

In the United States, the number of daily cases is increasing as the delta variant, a highly transmissible form of the disease first detected in India, spreads mainly among unvaccinated people. According to the New York Times, the number of daily cases increased by more than 100% two weeks ago, with Arkansas and Missouri – two states with low vaccination rates – leading the country in new case rates.

As of Friday, 35,561 new cases of COVID-19 were reported nationwide, bringing the country’s seven-day daily average to 28,315 cases. Two weeks ago, the seven-day average was 12,799, the Times reported.

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