Maine reports 467 new cases of COVID-19 amid signs the outbreak has slowed

Maine reported 467 new cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths on Friday, a slight decrease in the number of cases that adds to signs that the latest wave is starting to subside.

The seven-day average of new daily cases fell to 519.9 from 591.6 a week ago, but up from 316.7 a month ago.

Since the start of the pandemic, Maine has recorded 94,348 cases of COVID-19 and 1,070 deaths. While Maine’s trajectory appears to be on the downside, much of the rest of the United States has already seen a significant drop in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. Maine is currently 14th in viral prevalence, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute, with 41 cases per 100,000 population, compared to a national average of 30 per 100,000 population.

Dr Dora Anne Mills, health improvement manager for MaineHealth, the parent company of Maine Medical Center in Portland, said trends are uneven in Maine, with higher virus peaks in low counties. Vaccination rates, even in counties with high vaccination rates, like Cumberland County, have not seen such a dramatic increase in the number of cases this fall.

“There is a lot of variability,” Mills said. “Yes, overall our numbers are going down, but there are still pockets where there is a lot of pandemic activity,” Mills said.

The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Maine continues to drop sharply. As of Friday, there were 153 people hospitalized, including 46 in intensive care and 22 under ventilation. In the past two weeks, hospitalizations have dropped by 45% and the number of intensive care patients has dropped by 80%.

In the United States, hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have fallen from an average of 81,725 ​​two weeks ago to 63,921 now, or 28%, according to the US CDC.

In Maine, the positivity rate also fell, from about 6% a few weeks ago to 4.43% on Thursday. When positivity rates are lower, it is a sign that most symptomatic cases of the circulating disease are being reported, leading to public health strategies such as isolation and quarantine that are more effective for brake the transmission.

Also Thursday, the Maine Department of Education released updated data on positive cases and outbreaks in public schools. There have now been 2,910 cases among staff and students since the start of the school year, an increase of 332 cases from last week. Five more schools also achieved epidemic status, bringing that total to 113.

Meanwhile, many parents are anxiously awaiting federal approval for COVID-19 vaccines for ages 5 to 11. Pfizer has submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration and has officially requested approval for elementary-aged children, and that approval could come shortly before or after Halloween. For those currently eligible for the vaccine, all people 12 years of age and older, 883,680 are fully vaccinated in Maine, representing 65.7% of the state’s 1.3 million people.

Among Maine’s racial groups, whites lag behind minority populations in immunization, with 59.9% of the white population fully immune to COVID-19, compared to 83.9% of the black population, 80.1% Asians and 66% of the Native American population.

There is also a large disparity in vaccination rates between counties in Maine, with Cumberland County 76% of its total population immune, and Knox and Lincoln counties eliminating 70% vaccinated. At the other extreme, Franklin, Piscataquis and Somerset counties have 55% or less of their population immune.

This story will be updated.

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