27 more deaths and another 3,754 coronavirus cases reported across Maine

This story will be updated.

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

Twenty-seven more Mainers have died and another 3,754 coronavirus cases reported across the state, Maine health officials said Friday.

It’s the fourth day in a row when the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported an elevated number of virus cases as it grapples with a backlog of more than 30,000 positive virus cases, making the daily case counts less reliable indicators of the severity of the virus’ spread across the state. Other indicators, including falling hospitalizations and wastewater testing, suggest the coronavirus may be loosening its grip on Maine.

Friday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 209,759, according to the Maine CDC. That’s up from 206,005 on Thursday. 

Of those, 153,849 have been confirmed positive, while 55,910 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

The statewide death toll stands at 1,910.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old account for the largest portion of deaths. More cases have been recorded in women and more deaths in men.

So far, 4,230 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.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (20,541), Aroostook (10,110), Cumberland (44,123), Franklin (5,119), Hancock (6,295), Kennebec (20,016), Knox (5,265), Lincoln (4,639), Oxford (9,980), Penobscot (23,614), Piscataquis (2,609), Sagadahoc (4,508), Somerset (8,403), Waldo (5,364), Washington (3,564) and York (35,413) counties. Information about where an additional 196 cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Friday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 78,269,887 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 931,742 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.