Maine CDC reports 462 new cases of COVID-19, 4 more deaths

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday reported 462 new cases of COVID-19, as well as four more deaths, but there are signs the spread could slow.

The 7-day average for daily cases has risen from 620 to 459 over the past two weeks, an incubation period, but it is still slightly up from 448 this time last month and 221 ago. at two months.

Nationwide, cases have also declined, from an average of 240,000 two weeks ago to around 165,000 this week. Hospitalizations also fell by about 16 percent during this time. The new director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky, said during the Biden administration’s first press briefing on COVID-19 on Wednesday that she was “encouraged by these trends”, but case rates remain high and greater vigilance is needed.

There have now been 38,170 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 and 562 deaths since the pandemic reached Maine just over 10 months ago, and 16,290 of those cases have been reported in the last month alone . New cases were reported Wednesday in every county in Maine, led by Cumberland County with 144 and York County with 60.

January was a particularly murderous month. As of December 31, there had been 347 deaths statewide. Since then, 215 more deaths have been reported, although some of them did occur in December, but were not immediately reported or confirmed by the CDC. Nationwide, there have been at least 422,000 deaths linked to COVID-19, or as Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah pointed out on Tuesday, more than the number of U.S. servicemen who died in WWII global.

Hospitalizations fell from 11 to 183 on Wednesday. Of these, 51 people were in intensive care and 30 on a ventilator. The number of hospitalizations has remained consistently high for more than a month, ranging from a low of 177 people on December 30 to a high of 207 on January 13.

Meanwhile, Maine’s vaccination rate of 8.2 doses per 100 people is the 10th highest in the country. As of Wednesday, 92,498 people had received one dose and 28,700 – or about 2.5% of residents over 18 – had received both doses. The state has started immunizing elderly residents and those with high-risk health conditions as part of phase 1B, but this group numbers nearly 200,000 and supply is limited.

Northern Light Health, the parent company of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and Mercy Hospital in Portland, among others, announced Wednesday that it has partnered with Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on a mass vaccination site. The site will be launched next Tuesday and will be able to vaccinate up to 2,000 people per day.

Northern Light has already vaccinated older Mainers as part of Phase 1A at smaller sites.

The Biden administration said on Tuesday it was increasing state allocations by 16% next week, but it is not yet clear how much Maine could receive. In addition, the new administration said it was set to secure an additional 200 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which would bring the US total to 600 million doses by the summer, enough to immunize all. those currently considered eligible.

This story will be updated.

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