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5 more Mainers have died and another 614 coronavirus cases reported across the state

This story will be updated.

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

Five more Mainers have died as health officials on Wednesday reported another 614 coronavirus cases across the state.

Wednesday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 85,156, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 84,542 on Tuesday

Of those, 60,944 have been confirmed positive, while 24,212 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

One person from Androscoggin, one from Aroostook and three from Penobscot counties have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,007. One was a woman and four were men. Of those, two were 80 or older and one each were in their 70s, 50s and 40s.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 6,353. 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 down from 6.473 on Tuesday.

The new case rate statewide Wednesday was 4.59 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 636.25.

Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 458.6, down from 480.9 the day before, up from 449.7 a week ago and up from 162.3 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, 2,432 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 18.17 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (9,346), Aroostook (2,981), Cumberland (19,614), Franklin (1,735), Hancock (2,006), Kennebec (7,946), Knox (1,517), Lincoln (1,438), Oxford (4,183), Penobscot (9,569), Piscataquis (984), Sagadahoc (1,660), Somerset (3,181), Waldo (1,940), Washington (1,236) and York (15,814) counties. Information about where an additional six cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

An additional 929 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Wednesday, 874,457 Mainers are fully vaccinated, or about 73.8 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 42,415,398 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 678,517 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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