Maine CDC reports 350 cases of coronavirus, one death

On Sunday, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 350 cases of the novel coronavirus and one additional death, bringing the seven-day state average even higher as older Mainers await advice on how to receive a vaccine.

The cumulative number of cases in the state has increased to 25,592. Of those cases, 21,693 have been confirmed by testing and 3,899 are considered probable coronavirus cases.

Three hundred and fifty-nine people have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in Maine. The person who is believed to have died on Saturday was a Hancock County man in his 60s, the Maine CDC said.

The state’s seven-day average for daily new cases reached 531.4 on Sunday, and hospitalizations jumped to 190 statewide. Meanwhile, Maine has given at least 32,995 people the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Maine was one of the fastest states – in proportion to population – to distribute its COVID-19 vaccine allocation, according to data maintained by Bloomberg News. But some older Mainers are asking for clearer communication from government officials and vaccine providers on when it will be their turn to get vaccinated.

First doses in Maine go to frontline health workers and residents of long-term care facilities, but people over 75 will begin to be prioritized in the next phase of the state’s distribution plan . This leaves older residents wondering how to get in line.

In Florida, the decision by state authorities to distribute the vaccine on a first-come, first-served basis to the elderly has led to long queues and overnight camps at vaccination facilities. The Maine CDC says it is still working on the details of vaccine distribution in this next phase of the plan and plans to put people over 75 ahead of essential workers in the vaccine queue.

The public health agency recently said officials will likely rely on primary care doctors or other medical workers to let older patients know they are eligible for a vaccine.

The rapid roll-out of the vaccine in Maine means the state had already administered about 50% of the doses provided by the federal government last week. This is a higher proportion than any other state.

Meanwhile, the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor last week saw an increase in the number of COVID-19 hospital patients. The largest hospital in eastern Maine saw its daily average inpatients increase to 51.9 for the week ending Thursday, from 44 the week before and 26.6 the week before.

County by county in Maine since the onset of the pandemic, there have been 2,754 cases of coronavirus in Androscoggin, 713 in Aroostook, 7627 in Cumberland, 464 in Franklin, 557 in Hancock, 1907 in Kennebec, 379 in Knox, 312 in Lincoln, 1148 in Oxford, 2222 in Penobscot, 120 in Piscataquis, 404 in Sagadahoc, 761 in Somerset, 385 in Waldo, 389 in Washington and 5443 in York.

By age, 13.8% of patients were under 20, 17.9% in their twenties, 14.6% in their thirties, 13.1% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, 11.9 % in their 60s, 6.9% in their 70s, and 6.2% were 80 or older.

Hospitals in Maine had 190 COVID-19 patients as of Sunday, of whom 47 were in intensive care and 20 were on ventilators. The state had 88 intensive care unit beds out of a total of 384, and 213 ventilators available out of 320. There were also 443 reciprocating ventilators.

Worldwide on Sunday morning, there were nearly 84.6 million known cases of COVID-19 and 1.8 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 20.4 million cases and more than 350,000 deaths.

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