Three Mainers have died and 53 new coronavirus cases reported across the state

By Lynne Fort, Bangor Daily News Staff

Three more Mainers have died as health officials on Wednesday reported 53 more coronavirus cases across the state.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 1,190. 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 1,199 on Tuesday.

It’s the sixth straight day when Maine has seen new infections slip below 100. That comes amid a steep decline in virus transmission that has brought new cases to lows not seen in months after the spring’s stepped up vaccine drive.

Three more Mainers have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 843.

Wednesday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 68,384, according to the Maine CDC. That’s up from 68,331 on Tuesday. 

Of those, 50,021 have been confirmed positive, while 18,363 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

The new case rate statewide Wednesday was 0.40 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 510.94.

Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 72.6, down from 74 a day ago, down from 82.9 a week ago and down from 304.3 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, 2,043 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information about those hospitalized was not immediately available. 

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Tuesday was 15.26 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (8,328), Aroostook (1,881), Cumberland (17,175), Franklin (1,355), Hancock (1,363), Kennebec (6,539), Knox (1,141), Lincoln (1,070), Oxford (3,615), Penobscot (6,259), Piscataquis (572), Sagadahoc (1,470), Somerset (2,249), Waldo (1,038), Washington (922) and York (13,407) counties.

As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 33,393,813 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 598,330 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.