Maine reports 249 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, three more deaths

Maine reported 249 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths on Monday, continuing an upward trend in the number of cases.

The seven-day daily average of new cases was 174.1 on Monday, up from 205.4 a week ago and 65.7 a month ago.

Maine CDC director Dr Nirav Shah will brief the media today at 2 p.m. ET.

Overall, there have been 11,757 cases of COVID-19 in Maine and 194 deaths.

Meanwhile, officials of a second COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Moderna, said they would seek Food and Drug Administration approval for emergency use of the vaccine on Monday, according to news reports. Pfizer applied earlier in November and will appear before a panel of FDA scientists on December 10, while Moderna is expected to appear before the same panel a week later on December 17.

If both are approved, the Pfizer vaccine could begin distributing to states around Dec.15, with Moderna starting Dec.21, company officials said.

“It was the first time that I allowed myself to cry,” Modern’s chief medical officer Dr Tal Zaks told CNN on Monday. “We very much hope to change the course of this pandemic.”

Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have efficacy rates of around 95%, according to advanced clinical trials.

Full vaccine deployment is slated for 2021, as public health officials race against a worsening pandemic that is filling hospitals across the country. Maine is doing relatively well compared to most other states, but only because the pandemic is getting worse than Maine in most states. According to the Harvard Global Health Institute, the seven-day average daily case in Maine was 12.3 per 100,000 population, the third lowest in the country. Hawaii had the lowest virus prevalence in the country at 6.9.

Forty-five states had virus prevalence rates at least double those of Maine, and Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota had rates close to 10 times those of Maine or more.

As conditions worsen, more and more people are seeking care in hospitals.

Several hospitals in Maine last week reported record numbers of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, many in central and eastern Maine. As of Monday, 139 people were in Maine hospitals for COVID-19, including 48 in intensive care.

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor treated an average of 22.2 COVID-19 hospital patients per day for the six days ending Wednesday – the highest COVID-19 patient load in the state. MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston have also broken their own records for COVID-19 patients.

York County has also seen an increase in hospitalizations, with Maine Health Care Medical Center in Biddeford and York Hospital recording records.

This story will be updated.

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