Record number of COVID patients on ventilators as Maine reports 778 new cases

Maine reported 778 more cases of the coronavirus as the number of patients on ventilators hit a new record on Wednesday.

Forty-two people in Maine hospitals breathe using ventilators, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which broke the previous record of 40 people on Monday.

The state also reported seven new deaths, bringing the total number of people who died during the pandemic to 976. In total, there were 81,955 cases.

The seven-day average of new daily cases is 450.6, up from 359 a week ago and 173.7 a month ago. The increase in cases has prompted the Maine CDC to resume weekly press briefings with its director, Dr Nirav Shah, who is expected to provide an update on the state of the virus at 2 p.m.

The latest figures come as the most contagious delta variant increases among the unvaccinated in Maine and across the country. The disease burden is also shifting to younger people, as children under 12 remain ineligible for vaccines and return to school and more collective places.

Twenty-nine percent of the cases reported Wednesday were in people under the age of 20 and 16 percent were in people in their 20s. People 70 and older, who represent Maine’s most vaccinated population, accounted for just 6% of new cases on Wednesday.

The most recent figures classify all counties in Maine except Sagadahoc as having high transmission, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calculates transmission levels based on new cases for 100,000 people in the past seven days or test positive rates. , the one who is the highest. Waldo County currently has the worst levels of transmission. The 223 cases reported there over the past seven days mean the county has a case rate of 561.5 per 100,000 people. Sagadahoc County, where transmission is important, has a seven-day case rate of 97.6 per 100,000 people.

Over the past few weeks, the Maine CDC has had to clear the backlog of weekend cases because there have been so many positive test results. It was not immediately clear on Wednesday whether the new daily figures represented cases from a 24-hour period or are in part the result of a backlog.

Maine’s education commissioner told lawmakers on Tuesday that schools felt overwhelmed by the number of cases they see in the first few weeks, but the state continues to believe in-person learning can happen safe as long as health protocols such as universal interior masking and vaccines for all who are eligible are in place.

“Sadly, we had this very extraordinary and unforeseen spike in COVID that collided with the very early days of school,” said Pender Makin. “I think you’re going to see a readjustment and people are going to settle in realizing that we’ve been living with COVID for a while. It’s not a thing where we’re going to walk away and say “Mission accomplished.” We must learn to live sensibly in an environment where quite dangerous and often fatal disease is among us. “

Maine continues to have high rates of hospitalizations and on Monday broke a record for the number of people needing mechanical ventilators to breathe, with 40 people in Maine hospitals on ventilators. On Wednesday 192 people were hospitalized in Maine, including 70 in intensive care and 42 on ventilators. There are still 194 ventilators available, out of a total of 294, in the state and 55 intensive care beds remaining out of a total of 332.

Almost all critical care patients, and 70 to 75 percent of all hospitalized patients, have not been vaccinated, the Maine CDC said.

Statewide, 64% of people are fully immunized. This number rises to 72.9% for those aged 12 and over who are eligible for vaccines.

Nationally, the summer surge appears to be leveling off although coronavirus deaths continue to rise. The seven-day average of daily new cases in the country was 152,177 as of Wednesday, which is slightly down from the average of 152,393 a week ago, according to the New York Times.

Maine’s infection rate has risen to 33 cases per 100,000 population, the second highest in New England after Rhode Island. But the state is still below the national infection rate of 46 cases per 100,000 people due to even more severe outbreaks in many southern states.

This story will be updated.

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