Another Mainer dies as 376 more coronavirus cases are reported across the state
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Another Mainer has died as health officials on Monday reported 376 more coronavirus cases across the state.
Monday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 25,968, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 25,592 on Sunday.
Of those, 21,998 have been confirmed positive, while 3,970 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
A York County resident has succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 360. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
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, 1,107 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 — 15,382 — 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 1,177,522 negative test results out of 1,207,730 overall. More than 2.4 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 7,725 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 104 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (2,783), Aroostook (733), Franklin (469), Hancock (570), Kennebec (1,922), Knox (384), Lincoln (315), Oxford (1,162), Penobscot (2,241), Piscataquis (125), Sagadahoc (415), Somerset (772), Waldo (387), Washington (394) and York (5,567) counties. Information about where an additional four cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Monday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 20,640,212 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 351,590 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.