Another 28 coronavirus cases have been reported in Maine, health officials said Friday.
Friday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 5,235. Of those, 4,691 have been confirmed positive, while 544 were classified as “probable cases,” according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency revised Thursday’s cumulative total to 5,207, down from 5,215, meaning there was an increase of 20 over yesterday’s original report, state data show. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the state’s cumulative total.
New cases were reported in Androscoggin (7), Cumberland (1), Franklin (1), Kennebec (2), Oxford (2), Sagadahoc (1) and York (8) counties, state data show.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases has risen to 34.9, up from 30.1 a week ago and 21.7 a month ago.
No new deaths were reported Friday, leaving the statewide death toll at 140. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
So far, 442 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 10 people are currently hospitalized, with two in critical care.
Meanwhile, 28 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 4,507. That means there are 588 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is down from 597 on Wednesday.
A majority of the cases — 3,025— have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Friday, there have been 402,382 negative test results out of 409,669 overall. About 1.5 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 2,302 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 70 — have been concentrated. It is one of four counties — the others are Androscoggin, Penobscot and York, with 705, 253 and 1,141 cases, respectively — where “community transmission” has been confirmed, according to the Maine CDC.
There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel. That second condition has not yet been “satisfied” in other counties.
Other cases have been reported in Aroostook (43), Franklin (61), Hancock (53), Kennebec (211), Knox (36), Lincoln (42), Oxford (139), Piscataquis (9), Sagadahoc (66), Somerset (84), Waldo (73) and Washington (16) counties.
As of Friday evening, the coronavirus had sickened 7,020,967 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 203,481 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.