Maine CDC reports 299 cases in the state

By Rosemary Lausier, Bangor Daily News Staff

This story will be updated. 

Another 299 coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Sunday. 

Sunday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 15,923, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 15,620 on Saturday.

Of those, 13,946 have been confirmed positive, while 1,977 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

The statewide death toll stands at 257. 

The agency revised Saturday’s cumulative total to 15,624, up from 15,620. 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 (11), Washington (4), Hancock (4), Penobscot (19), Piscataquis (3), Somerset (25), Waldo (2), Knox (32), Kennebec (9), Franklin (5), Oxford (12), Cumberland (106), York (51) and Androscoggin (12) counties, state data show. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

Two counties — Lincoln and Sagadahoc — did not report any new cases Sunday.

The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 368.6, which is up from 356.4 a day ago, up from 264.9 a week ago and up from 172.7 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, 878 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. As of Saturday, 175 Mainers were hospitalized, with 46 in critical care and 15 on a ventilator.

Meanwhile, 14 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 10,491. That means there are 5,175 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is up from 4,886 on Saturday.

A majority of the cases — 16,787 — have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Friday, there had been 1,004,593 negative test results out of 1,025,880 overall. About 2 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 4,913 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 79 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (1,910), Aroostook (278), Franklin (336), Hancock (387), Kennebec (1,209), Knox (270), Lincoln (189), Oxford (618), Penobscot (1,268), Piscataquis (72), Sagadahoc (202), Somerset (569), Waldo (281), Washington (214) and York (3,191) counties. Information about where an additional six cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Sunday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 16,067,965 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 297,843 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.