Maine CDC reports record-high 425 cases in the state
By Rosemary Lausier, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Another 425 coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Monday. Monday’s total breaks a previous record of 349 cases set on Dec. 4.
Monday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 13,775, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 13,348 on Sunday.
Of those, 12,097 have been confirmed positive, while 1,678 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The agency revised Sunday’s cumulative total to 13,350, up from 13,348. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the state’s cumulative total. The Bangor Daily News reports on the number of new cases reported to the Maine CDC in the previous 24 hours, rather than the increase of daily cumulative cases.
New cases were reported in Aroostook (7), Hancock (7), Penobscot (17), Somerset (11), Waldo (4), Knox (2), Lincoln (3), Kennebec (66), Franklin (10), Androscoggin (64), Sagadahoc (7), Oxford (24), Cumberland (93) and York (110) counties, state data show.
Only two counties — Piscataquis and Washington — reported no new cases.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 291.1, which is up from 265.3 a day ago but up from 169.4 a week ago and up from 142.7 a month ago.
Health officials have warned Mainers that “forceful and widespread” community transmission is being seen throughout the state. Every county is seeing high community transmission, which the Maine CDC defines as a case rate of 16 or more cases per 10,000 people.
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.
The statewide death toll stands at 227. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
So far, 781 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.
Meanwhile, 66 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 10,146. That means there are 3,402 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is up from 3,041 on Sunday.
A majority of the cases — 8,197 — 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 936,582 negative test results out of 954,351 overall. About 1.8 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 4,267 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 71 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (1,756), Aroostook (195), Franklin (268), Hancock (318), Kennebec (1,052), Knox (227), Lincoln (183), Oxford (489), Penobscot (1,107), Piscataquis (60), Sagadahoc (188), Somerset (503), Waldo (262), Washington (197) and York (2,702) counties. Information about where an additional case was reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Monday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 14,761,732 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 282,345 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.