Maine CDC reports 4 deaths and 333 new coronavirus cases
By Rosemary Lausier, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Another four Mainers have died as health officials on Sunday reported 333 new coronavirus cases across the state.
Sunday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 21,880, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 21,547 on Friday.
The Maine CDC did not release data regarding new cases on Saturday, due to the Christmas holiday. This most likely affects the number of new cases reported.
Of those, 18,769 have been confirmed positive, while 3,111 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The statewide death toll stands at 323. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60. No additional information about the deaths reporte was immediately available on Sunday.
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, 1,024 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.
A majority of the cases — 12,699 — have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Thursday, there have been 1,122,739 negative test results out of 1,149,642 overall. Nearly 2.3 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 6,610 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 92 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (2,444), Aroostook (497), Franklin (436), Hancock (506), Kennebec (1,611), Knox (336), Lincoln (280), Oxford (1,037), Penobscot (1,858), Piscataquis (105), Sagadahoc (353), Somerset (693), Waldo (365), Washington (336) and York (4,400) counties. Information about where an additional 13 cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Sunday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 18,986,062 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 331,929 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.