5 more Mainers dies and 284 coronavirus cases reported across the state
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Another five Mainers have died as health officials on Thursday reported 284 more coronavirus cases across the state.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 6,496. 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 7,046 on Wednesday.
Thursday marked one of the lowest daily increases in new cases Maine has seen on a weekday since late last fall, and comes as virus transmission has steadily fallen both here and nationally over the past two weeks. It’s not yet clear what has caused new cases to plummet, but it could be a sign that the surge in virus transmission that occurred over the end-of-year holidays is passing.
Three Cumberland County residents, a Hancock County resident and a Kennebec County resident have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 567.
Thursday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 38,454, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 38,170 on Wednesday.
Of those, 31,064 have been confirmed positive, while 7,390 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The new case rate statewide Thursday was 2.12 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 287.31.
Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 403.6, down from 458.7 a day ago, down from 546 a week ago and down from 434 a month ago. That average has been steadily declining since Jan. 14, the longest sustained drop Maine has seen since virus transmission began to surge in late October.
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. For a complete breakdown of the age and sex demographics of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, use the interactive graphic below.
So far, 1,375 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.
The total statewide hospitalization rate on Thursday was 10.27 patients per 10,000 residents.
Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (4,208), Aroostook (1,115), Cumberland (10,993), Franklin (740), Hancock (766), Kennebec (3,022), Knox (572), Lincoln (462), Oxford (1,863), Penobscot (3,332), Piscataquis (194), Sagadahoc (753), Somerset (1,066), Waldo (505), Washington (603) and York (8,259) counties. Information about where an additional case was reported wasn’t immediately available.
For a complete breakdown of the county by county data, use the interactive graphic below.
As of Thursday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 25,599,961 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 429,178 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Nationwide, 25.6 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, an increase of 1.1 million doses since Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.