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2 more Mainers have died and another 287 coronavirus cases reported across the state

This story will be updated.

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

Two more Mainers have died as health officials reported on Wednesday another 287 coronavirus cases across the state.

Wednesday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 74,309, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 74,022 on Tuesday

Of those, 53,381 have been confirmed positive, while 20,478 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

A man and woman in their 70s and 80s from Cumberland and Franklin counties have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 926.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 2,426. 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 up from 2,356 on Tuesday.

The new case rate statewide Wednesday was 2.14 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 555.21.

Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 174.7, up from 161 a day ago, up from 173.1 a week ago and up from 60.9 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, 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, 2,259 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 Wednesday was 16.88 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (8,703), Aroostook (2,231), Cumberland (18,143), Franklin (1,484), Hancock (1,558), Kennebec (6,953), Knox (1,291), Lincoln (1,210), Oxford (3,835), Penobscot (7,213), Piscataquis (711), Sagadahoc (1,534), Somerset (2,504), Waldo (1,424), Washington (1,045) and York (14,470) counties.

An additional 1,037 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Wednesday, 792,364 Mainers have received a first dose of the vaccine, while 836,894 have received a final dose.

As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 38,077,523 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 630,838 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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