Maine reports 283 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday

Maine is reporting 283 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the second day in a row that cases have surpassed 250. There have been no additional deaths.

As the vaccination effort accelerates, Maine is experiencing an increase in the number of daily cases among populations that are not yet eligible for vaccination.

The seven-day daily average of new cases fell from 196.4 a week ago to 231.4 on Thursday. This is still well below the peak of more than 600 cases per day in mid-January, but cases have seen an upward trend.

Meanwhile, 435,700 people in Maine have received at least the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, representing 32.4% of Maine’s 1.3 million people. In addition, 277,098, or 20.6 percent of the population, received a final dose.

Dr Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, will speak to the media at 2 p.m. today.

The vaccination schedule is expected to continue to accelerate next week, with Maine receiving a record 54,790 doses, mostly caused by an influx of extra doses from Johnson & Johnson.

National reports said Wednesday that 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been spoiled at a manufacturing facility in Baltimore, but that would not affect next week’s supply. According to a company statement, the manufacturer, Emergent Biosolutions, has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to manufacture doses for Johnson & Johnson and that the bath that was ruined has “never been brought forward until ‘at the filling and finishing stages of our manufacturing process. “

Robert Long, spokesperson for the Maine CDC, said in a statement that “Our federal partners have confirmed that Maine will receive the entire planned allocation of 20,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week. The doses of J&J vaccine that Maine will receive were not manufactured at the affected facility. “

Increasing the vaccine doses allocated for Maine could shorten the time for people under 50 to get vaccinated. Maine currently lags behind most states in expanding the eligibility of all adults to get the vaccine.

Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have already opened eligibility to all adults or plan to do so by April 19, when anyone 16 and older in Maine could schedule a vaccine, according to the center. Kaiser Family Foundation Health Policy Research.

John Porter, spokesperson for MaineHealth, the parent company of Maine Medical Center, said appointments at MaineHealth sites, which include the Scarborough Downs mass vaccination site and others, are being filled for the next week, but they’re ready for a dose escalation.

“With respect to expanding age eligibility, we are confident that we can accommodate any demand that arises,” Porter said.

This story will be updated.

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