Maine Reports 145 More COVID-19 Cases, As Transmission Levels Rise

Maine reported 145 cases of COVID-19 on Friday in another sign that transmission levels are on the rise.

The new cases bring the total number since the start of the pandemic to 71,141. No additional deaths have been reported. Since the start of the pandemic, 900 people have died from the virus.

Friday’s case count brings the seven-day average of new daily cases to 112.9, from 76.9 a week ago and 14.7 a month ago.

Five counties in Maine were classified by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having “substantial” transmission rates on Friday while a sixth county, Waldo County, was classified as having “high transmission. “. The CDC recommends that people living in areas of high or high transmission wear masks indoors, regardless of their immunization status.

The five counties with substantial inheritance were Aroostook, Cumberland, Lincoln, Penobscot, and Piscataquis.

However, the guidelines have been confusing for some residents and business owners, as even slight changes in the number of cases can result in different categorization and hide guidelines for a county, sometimes on a daily basis.

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Nirav Shah said Thursday his agency is reviewing the guidance and whether a different approach would be better suited for Maine to determine high-risk areas.

“If we made a change – and this is a big if – it would rather than update these recommendations every 24 hours, maybe we would update them every week so that businesses have some predictability.” and stability to define their policies, Shah said. .

The US CDC defines high transmission as cumulative cases of 100 or more per 100,000 people in the past seven days. Waldo County’s current seven-day case rate is 249 cases per 100,000 population.

Shah said Thursday that the Maine CDC is closely examining why Waldo County is experiencing such high transmission rates, but there is no clear answer at this time.

“There is no epidemic causing it and therefore, because there is no epidemic, it is community transmission,” Shah said. “But why there? … I don’t know the answer yet.

To date, there have been 712 ‘breakthrough’ cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated people in Maine out of 36,785 cases reported since the first date Maine residents could be fully vaccinated. Thirty-two breakthrough cases required hospitalization and 14 people with breakthrough cases have died, although the CDC also noted that COVID-19 is not necessarily the leading cause of hospitalization or death in these cases.

The breakthrough number of cases is also probably underestimated, as not all cases are investigated to determine immunization status and validation of immunization status takes time, which can lead to a delay in notification. . Groundbreaking cases are expected with any vaccine, and the CDC maintains that COVID-19 vaccines are extremely safe and effective, especially in preventing serious illness.

44 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine on Friday, including 21 in intensive care and nine on ventilators.

Across the country, new cases of COVID-19 are increasing as the more contagious delta variant spreads, especially among the unvaccinated. The United States reported 127,108 new cases on Friday, bringing the seven-day average of daily cases to 100,199. This is up from a seven-day average of 10,608 a month ago.

Vaccinations in Maine have slowed although the state has seen a slight uptick in interest in recent weeks and continues to have one of the best vaccination rates in the country. A total of 1,806 injections were given in Maine as of Wednesday – the most in a single day for at least three weeks. The daily average number of shots fired last week was also up slightly from three weeks ago. For the week of July 25 to 31, the daily average was 1,352 shots, compared to an average of 1,174 shots per day for the week of July 11 to 17.

As of Thursday, 69% of the eligible population aged 12 and over had been fully vaccinated. The vaccination rate for the general population was almost 61 percent.

This story will be updated.

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