Maine CDC reports 224 cases of coronavirus statewide

Health officials on Sunday reported 224 new coronavirus cases across the state.

Sunday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 11,508, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 11,288 on Saturday.

Of those, 10,315 have been confirmed positive, while 1,193 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

The agency revised Saturday’s cumulative total to 11,284 down from 11,288, meaning there was a net increase of 224 over the previous day’s 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. The Bangor Daily News reports on the number of new cases reported to the Maine CDC in the previous 24 hours, rather than the increase of daily cumulative cases.

New cases were reported in Aroostook (8), Washington (2), Hancock (8), Penobscot (37), Piscataquis (1), Somerset (11), Waldo (3), Kennebec (10), Franklin (2), Oxford (6), Lincoln (4), Androscoggin (41), Sagadahoc (1), Cumberland (37) and York (53) counties, state data show. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

Knox County was the only county in the state that did not report any new cases on Sunday.

The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 165.1, down from 167.0 a day ago, down from 205.4 a week ago and up from 65.7 a month ago.

The statewide death toll stands at 191. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

Holiday lab and testing facility closures caused some lower counts to be recorded over the weekend, with the Maine CDC reporting 22 new cases on Saturday compared to the 238 new cases reported on Thursday. Most testing locations were closed on both Thursday and Friday, so numbers could remain low through the weekend due to the temporary dip in testing.

Health officials have warned Mainers that “forceful and widespread” community transmission is being seen throughout the state. Every county is seeing high community transmission, which the Maine CDC defines as a case rate of 16 or more cases per 10,000 people.

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.

There are now 114 known cases of coronavirus among more than 30,000 University of Maine System students, faculty and staff, according to UMS spokesperson Dan Demeritt.

There are 104 cases at the University of Maine; Two cases at University of Maine at Augusta; Four cases at University of Maine Farmington; One case at University of Maine at Presque Isle — one new case involving a non-residential student; and three cases at University of Southern Maine — one new case involving an employee.

The only schools in the UMS with no active cases of coronavirus are University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Maine at Machias, University of Maine Law School.

So far, 692 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Currently, 125 Mainers are hospitalized with 49 in critical care and 18 on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 130 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 8,952. That means there are 2,365 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, which is up from 2,275 on Saturday.

A majority of the cases — 6,866— have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Wednesday, there had been 847,706 negative test results out of 861,445 overall. Just over 1.5 percent of all tests have come back positive, the most recently available Maine CDC data show.

The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 3,767 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths — 71 — have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (1,495), Aroostook (137), Franklin (212), Hancock (243), Kennebec (768), Knox (202), Lincoln (155), Oxford (332), Penobscot (857), Piscataquis (42), Sagadahoc (149), Somerset (445), Waldo (228), Washington (191) and York (2,283) counties. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Sunday afternoon, the coronavirus had sickened 13,324,717 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 266,534 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.