3 more Mainers die and 301 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 Thursday reported 301 more coronavirus cases across the state.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 4,896. 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 5,270 on Wednesday.

A Kennebec County resident, a Washington County resident and a York County resident have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 630.

Thursday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 40,534, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 40,233 on Wednesday. 

Of those, 32,537 have been confirmed positive, while 7,997 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

The new case rate statewide Thursday was 2.25 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 302.85.

Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 299.1, up from 296.4 a day ago, down from 402.7 a week ago and down from 521.1 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, 1,420 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 Thursday was 10.61 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (4,433), Aroostook (1,170), Cumberland (11,493), Franklin (800), Hancock (807), Kennebec (3,285), Knox (589), Lincoln (499), Oxford (1,980), Penobscot (3,512), Piscataquis (214), Sagadahoc (819), Somerset (1,124), Waldo (528), Washington (658) and York (8,620) counties. Information about where an additional three cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Thursday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 26,558,715 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 450,823 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.