Five more Mainers die and another 251 coronavirus cases are reported across the state
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
Another five Mainers have died as health officials on Wednesday reported 251 more coronavirus cases across the state.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 2,913. 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 up from 2,865 on Tuesday.
A woman and four men from Cumberland, Kennebec, Oxford, Washington and York counties have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 743. Three were in their 80s and two in their 70s.
Wednesday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 50,504, according to the Maine CDC. That’s up from 50,253 on Tuesday.
Of those, 38,711 have been confirmed positive, while 11,793 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The new case rate statewide Wednesday was 1.88 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 377.34.
Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 220.9, up from 214.3 a day ago, up from 200.1 a week ago and up from 170.9 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.
The most cases have been detected in Mainers in their 20s, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths.
So far, 1,669 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.
The total statewide hospitalization rate on Wednesday was 12.47 patients per 10,000 residents.
Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (5,286), Aroostook (1,400), Cumberland (13,981), Franklin (987), Hancock (1,050), Kennebec (4,300), Knox (806), Lincoln (657), Oxford (2,541), Penobscot (4,611), Piscataquis (384), Sagadahoc (979), Somerset (1,375), Waldo (706), Washington (764) and York (10,676) counties. Information about where an additional case was reported wasn’t immediately available.
An additional 9,214 Mainers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours. As of Wednesday, 426,899 Mainers have received a first dose of the vaccine, while 265,887 have received a final dose.
As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 30,394,189 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 550,998 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.