Maine CDC reports 4 deaths and 346 cases in the state
By Rosemary Lausier, Bangor Daily News Staff
This story will be updated.
Four Mainers have had as another 346 coronavirus cases are reported across the state, Maine health officials said Friday.
Friday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 15,206 according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 14,861 on Thursday.
Of those, 13,332 have been confirmed positive, while 1,874 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
The statewide death toll has risen to 250. Information about the deaths was not immediately available.
The agency revised Thursday’s cumulative total to 14,860, up from 14,861. 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 (12), Washington (7), Penobscot (20), Hancock (31), Somerset (6), Waldo (2), Knox (2), Lincoln (1), Sagadahoc (4), Kennebec (21), Franklin (6), Oxford (49), Androscoggin (61), Cumberland (79) and York (120) counties. state data show. Information about where an additional case was reported wasn’t immediately available.
Only one county — Piscataquis — did not report any new cases Friday.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 337.4, which is up from 330.1 a day ago but up from 227.9 a week ago and up from 162.6 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.
So far, 855 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. As of Thursday, 172 Mainers are hospitalized, with 45 in critical care and 16 on a ventilator.
Meanwhile, 50 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 10,444. That means there are 4,512 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is up from 4,221 on Thursday.
A majority of the cases — 8,979 — have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Thursday, there have been 992,612 negative test results out of 1,013,347 overall. Almost 2 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 4,651 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 76 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (1,898), Aroostook (250), Franklin (296), Hancock (375), Kennebec (1,156), Knox (234), Lincoln (189), Oxford (591), Penobscot (1,216), Piscataquis (66), Sagadahoc (196), Somerset (541), Waldo (278), Washington (208) and York (3,060) counties. Information about where an additional cas was reported wasn’t immediately available.
As of Friday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 15,618,438 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 292,190 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.