Maine sees fewest new coronavirus cases in 3 months and no deaths
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Another 156 coronavirus cases have been reported across the state and no new deaths, Maine health officials said Sunday.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 5,765. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. That’s down from 5,949 on Saturday.
It was the smallest daily increase in coronavirus cases the state has seen since Nov. 15 when 149 cases were reported. That comes as Maine has seen a steady decline in the size of daily growth in confirmed virus transmission, a trend that has been mirrored nationally.
Still, Sunday’s report remains well above the level Maine saw prior to the surge in virus transmission that began in late October.
The statewide death toll remains at 590. It was the first time in the past week when Maine didn’t record at least one death.
Sunday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 39,324, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 39,168 on Saturday.
Of those, 31,689 have been confirmed positive, while 7,635 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The new case rate statewide Sunday was 1.17 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 293.81.
Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 363, down from 367.3 a day ago, down from 455.1 a week ago and down from 479 a month ago. That rate has been steadily falling since Jan. 14, when it peaked at 625.6.
The most cases have been detected in Mainers in their 20s, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men.
So far, 1,390 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 160 Mainers are currently hospitalized, with 52 in critical care and 29 on ventilators. Out of 391 critical care beds, 95 are currently available. Meanwhile, 224 out of 320 ventilators are available. Currently, 443 alternative ventilators are available.
The total statewide hospitalization rate on Sunday was 10.39 patients per 10,000 residents.
Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (4,313), Aroostook (1,141), Cumberland (11,197), Franklin (771), Hancock (779), Kennebec (3,113), Knox (578), Lincoln (471), Oxford (1,908), Penobscot (3,420), Piscataquis (203), Sagadahoc (776), Somerset (1,089), Waldo (512), Washington (622) and York (8,429) counties. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Sunday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 26,076,032 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 439,536 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.