5 more Mainers die as coronavirus cases climb above 500 for 4th straight day

By Rosemary Lausier, Bangor Daily News Staff

This story will be updated. 

Another five Mainers have died as health officials on Saturday reported 572 more coronavirus cases across the state.

It’s the fourth straight day when Maine has seen coronavirus cases soar above 500 amid the latest spike in virus transmission. Bringing the statewide death toll to 763

Friday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 56,525, according to the Maine CDC. That’s up from 56,525 on Friday. 

Of those, 42,578 have been confirmed positive, while 13,947 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

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, 1,761 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information on those hospitalizations was not immediately available. 

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (6,259), Aroostook (1,544), Cumberland (15,209), Franklin (1,122), Hancock (1,185), Kennebec (5,029), Knox (890), Lincoln (749), Oxford (2,888), Penobscot (5,015), Piscataquis (412), Sagadahoc (1,146), Somerset (1,640), Waldo (766), Washington (807) and York (11,862) counties. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Saturday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 31,574,340 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 566,238 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.