Maine CDC reports 12 deaths and 277 cases in the state
By Rosemary Lausier, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Twelve Mainers have died as another 277 coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Tuesday. Tuesday’s total comes on the heels of a record-high 425 cases reported on Monday.
Monday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 14,409, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 13,775 on Monday.
Of those, 12,333 have been confirmed positive, while 1,716 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The statewide death toll stands at 239. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60. No information about the deaths reported was immediately available.
The agency revised Tuesday’s cumulative total to 13,772, down from 13,775. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the state’s cumulative total. The Bangor Daily News reports on the number of new cases reported to the Maine CDC in the previous 24 hours, rather than the increase of daily cumulative cases.
New cases were reported in Aroostook (15), Washington (1), Penobscot (22), Hancock (5), Piscataquis (1), Somerset (8), Waldo (3), Knox (3), Lincoln (3), Sagadahoc (2), Kennebec (14), Franklin (3), Oxford (17), Androscoggin (18), Cumberland (91) and York (57) counties. state data show. Information about where an additional 15 cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 298, which is up from 291.1 a day ago but up from 185.9 a week ago and up from 158.3 a month ago.
Health officials have warned Mainers that “forceful and widespread” community transmission is being seen throughout the state. Every county is seeing high community transmission, which the Maine CDC defines as a case rate of 16 or more cases per 10,000 people.
There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel.
So far, 803 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. As of Monday, 171 Mainers are currently hospitalized, with 50 in critical care and 18 on a ventilator.
Meanwhile, 101 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 10,247. That means there are 3,563 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is up from 3,402 on Monday.
A majority of the cases — 8,323 — have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Monday, there have been 963,751 negative test results out of 982,997 overall. About 1.9 percent of all tests have come back positive, the most recently available Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 4,357 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 74 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (1,774), Aroostook (210), Franklin (271), Hancock (323), Kennebec (1,065), Knox (230), Lincoln (185), Oxford (506), Penobscot (1,129), Piscataquis (61), Sagadahoc (190), Somerset (511), Waldo (265), Washington (198) and York (2,759) counties. Information about where an additional 15 cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Tuesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 14,955,947 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 283,746 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.