11 more Mainers die as 344 coronavirus cases are reported across the state
By Lynne Fort, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
11 more Mainers died as health officials on Saturday reported 344 new coronavirus cases across the state.
Saturday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 25,245, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 24,901 on Friday.
Of those, 21,412 have been confirmed positive, while 3,833 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The statewide death toll now stands at 358.
New cases were reported in Androscoggin (61), Aroostook (79), Cumberland (337), Franklin (3), Hancock (2), Kennebec (67), Knox (3), Lincoln (7), Oxford (10), Penobscot (122), Sagadahoc (2), Somerset (8), Waldo (2), Washington (8) and York (315) counties, state data show. Information about 19 additional cases was not available.
So far, 1,091 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. As of Friday, 177 people were hospitalized, with 48 in critical care and 19 on ventilators.
An additional 64 people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing the total number of Mainers who have recovered to 11,438. That means there are at least 13,449 active cases in the state, up from 12,480 on Thursday.
As of Friday, 30,877 Mainers had been vaccinated against COVID-19, or 2.02 percent of the population. Maine ranks third in the country for the rate of vaccination according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker, coming in behind only West Virginia at 2.50 percent and South Dakota at 2.14 percent. The fast pace comes despite the state receiving thousands fewer doses than expected.
There have been 1,177,522 negative test results out of 1,207,730 overall. About 2.4 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 7,570 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 104 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (2,728), Aroostook (696), Franklin (454), Hancock (552), Kennebec (1,879), Knox (373), Lincoln (308), Oxford (1,125), Penobscot (2,172), Piscataquis (117), Sagadahoc (389), Somerset (751), Waldo (382), Washington (385) and York (5,345) counties. Information about where 19 additional cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Saturday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 20,136,701 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 347,870 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.