3 more Mainers die as another 317 coronavirus cases are reported across the state

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

This story will be updated.

Another three Mainers have died as health officials on Monday reported 317 more coronavirus cases across the state.

Monday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 33,876, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 33,559 on Sunday.

Of those, 27,768 have been confirmed positive, while 6,108 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

A Hancock County resident and two Penobscot County residents have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide toll to 514. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

Monday marked a continued dip in new cases seen across the state over the weekend. That followed a week when Maine saw four days with new cases above 700 — including three above 800, as well as a new single-day record high of 824. Before last week, Mainer had not seen new cases surge above 800.

Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 611.4, up from 610.6 a day ago, up from 520.6 a week ago and up from 446.9 a month ago. Before this surge began in late October, Maine’s seven-day average was hovering in the 30s.

The Maine CDC continues to report widespread high levels of community transmission, defined as a case rate of 16 or more per 10,000 people, even in counties once largely spared the worst of the pandemic.

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, 1,254 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information about those currently hospitalized wasn’t immediately available.

A majority of the cases — 20,113 — have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC. 

As of Friday, there have been 1,328,905 negative test results out of 1,368,816 overall. Nearly 2.9 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 9,884 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 126 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (3,662), Aroostook (1,033), Franklin (570), Hancock (685), Kennebec (2,621), Knox (506), Lincoln (394), Oxford (1,580), Penobscot (2,915), Piscataquis (165), Sagadahoc (620), Somerset (946), Waldo (431), Washington (507) and York (7,354) counties. Information about where an additional three cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Monday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 23,937,846 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 397,600 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.