Six more Mainers die as another 417 coronavirus cases are reported across the state
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Another six Mainers have died as health officials on Tuesday reported 417 new coronavirus cases across the state.
Tuesday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 16,760. Of those, 14,960 have been confirmed positive, while 2,070 were classified as “probable cases,” according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency revised Monday’s cumulative total to 16,343, down from 16,349, meaning there was an increase of 411 over the previous day’s report. 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.
A man in his 60s and a man in his 80s from Androscoggin County, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 70s from Cumberland County, a woman in her 90s from Hancock County and a man in his 80s from York County have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 265. There have been 26 deaths across the state in the past week. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
New cases were reported in Androscoggin (25), Aroostook (10), Cumberland (152), Franklin (4), Hancock (5), Kennebec (20), Knox (2), Lincoln (5), Oxford (19), Penobscot (34), Piscataquis (5), Sagadahoc (2), Somerset (3), Waldo (6), Washington (7) and York (118) counties, state data show.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 388.3, up from 368 a day ago, up from 321.6 a week ago and up from 181 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, 909 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information about those who are currently hospitalized wasn’t immediately available.
Meanwhile, 66 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 10,614. That means there are 5,881 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is up from 5,542 on Monday.
A majority of the cases — 9,868 — 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 1,030,077 negative test results out of 1,052,653 overall. About 2.1 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 5,134 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 81 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (2,051), Aroostook (300), Franklin (349), Hancock (405), Kennebec (1,241), Knox (275), Lincoln (194), Oxford (693), Penobscot (1,343), Piscataquis (78), Sagadahoc (211), Somerset (578), Waldo (294), Washington (222) and York (3,390) counties. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Tuesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 16,532,877 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 300,886 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.