Maine CDC investigates outbreaks in Maine Med and Belfast hospital

AUGUSTA – State health officials investigate COVID-19 outbreaks among staff at Maine Medical Center in Portland and Waldo County General Hospital as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in many communities.

Nine members of the emergency department at Maine Medical Center have tested positive for COVID-19 since last week. The nine employees worked in clinical care. Hospital staff contacted all potentially exposed patients during their emergency room visit and offered tests.

There have been no positive cases so far among patients who have come in contact with infected staff members, some of whom were fully vaccinated against the virus.

“As per CDC guidelines, (Maine Medical Center) has tested its entire emergency team and is still expanding testing to assess emergency support personnel,” the hospital said in a statement. “We will continue to test the ED team at regular intervals.”

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also opened an investigation into an outbreak involving eight staff at Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast.

“Following CDC directives, colleagues are in isolation at home,” hospital spokeswoman Jenifer Harris said in a statement. “All those considered to be in close contact with those who tested positive have been notified. The cases are believed to be an indication of community spread in Waldo County, which is considered a high transmission county by the CDC.”

Waldo County, a COVID-19 hotspot in Maine, has an infection rate nearly three times the U.S. CDC’s high transmission threshold.

The Maine CDC was also investigating at least seven other outbreaks, which are defined as three or more cases with a common link. Four of the investigations focused on Pratt and Whitney, Camp Caribou, Camp Laurel South and Zion Pentecostal Church. Maine CDC spokesman Robert Long said the agency was also investigating outbreaks in three other locations but had not identified them.

COVID-19 cases have risen sharply in Maine and across the country in recent weeks due, in large part, to the emergence of the highly transmissible and potentially more dangerous delta variant.

No new case data was available on Monday as the Maine CDC only provides updated figures from Tuesday to Saturday. But on Saturday, the average number of new COVID-19 cases in Maine increased six-fold – to 124 cases per day – over the past month.

The vast majority of these cases as well as hospitalizations concern unvaccinated people. There have been at least 712 “breakthrough” infections and 14 deaths among those vaccinated in Maine, although state health officials have said groundbreaking cases are to be expected because no vaccine is effective at 100%. According to federal estimates, the risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 is 25 times lower for fully vaccinated people than for unvaccinated people.

THE RATE OF VACCINATION ON THE RISE

At the same time, the Mills administration announced Monday that Maine had taken another symbolic milestone, joining five other states that have administered COVID-19 vaccines to at least 80% of residents aged 18 or older. The Maine CDC reported Monday that the number of vaccines administered daily had increased by about 12%, from an average of 1,497 for the week ending July 30 to 1,673 for the week ending Sunday.

As of Monday, 69.3% of residents aged 12 or older eligible for vaccination had received their last doses of Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. That figure rises to 80.2% when focusing on people 18 or older who have received at least one injection, the Mills administration said on Monday.

Maine currently ranks third in the country, after Vermont and Massachusetts, in terms of the percentage of the entire population considered fully vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg tracking.

“I applaud the people of Maine for their willingness to roll up their sleeves and get shot,” Governor Janet Mills said in a statement. “We know that vaccinations are the best tool to protect the health of the people of Maine, and with the more contagious and deadly delta variant spreading throughout Maine and the country, it’s crucial that we continue to move forward and fight back. this pandemic. If you have not yet received your injection, I encourage you to talk to your doctor about how vaccination can protect your health and potentially save your life.

At the same time, the latest data from the Maine CDC shows how quickly the delta variant has become the dominant strain in Maine.

In July, the delta variant accounted for 86% of 115 positive test results that were analyzed by genomic sequencing to determine the strain of the coronavirus. In comparison, the delta variant was only detected in 3.3% of the positive tests that were sequenced in Maine in June.

DELTA VARIANT FUEL OVERVOLTAGE

The delta variant accounted for about 93% of sequenced cases nationwide at the end of July, according to last week’s estimates from the US CDC.

Masking is again recommended for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people in indoor public places in seven of Maine’s 16 counties, as case rates exceeded 50 people per 100,000 population the week before.

Cumberland, York, Knox, Penobscot and Aroostook counties were all experiencing “substantial” levels of community transmission at the end of last week, based on the US CDC’s nationwide case tracking system. Waldo and Piscataquis counties had “high” transmission rates.

Cases have grown by far the fastest in Waldo County compared to the local population. As of Friday, the most recent figures available, Waldo County had 290 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population, nearly triple the rate in Piscataquis County, quadruple the rate in Cumberland County and five times the observed rates during the same period in York County.

Long, a spokesperson for Maine CDC, said agency staff continued to investigate the reasons for the outbreak in Waldo, a largely rural county that has historically had one of the highest rates of infection. lowest in the state throughout the pandemic.

“Case investigations continue to indicate that the increase in Waldo County cases is a result of community transmission, primarily among people who are not fully immunized,” Long wrote in an email.

” Previous

Next ”

Related stories