AUGUSTA, Maine — The number of Mainers currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine reached the highest level in more than two months on Tuesday as the virus continues to spread mostly among unvaccinated people.
As of Tuesday, 84 Mainers were hospitalized with COVID-19, up from 42 two weeks ago and 27 a month ago. It marks the highest single-day hospitalization number since June 2.
The rise in hospitalizations comes as every Maine county except Kennebec is seeing substantial or high community transmission of the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning mask-wearing is recommended indoors for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
The spread of the delta variant has reshaped Maine’s summer virus trajectory after cases trended downward this spring. The variant, which accounts for 86 percent of recent cases in the northeastern U.S., according to federal estimates, has managed to spread despite Maine’s high vaccination rate. Nearly 75 percent of adults here are fully vaccinated.
Cases and hospitalizations remain mostly among unvaccinated people, however. Of the 852 Mainers who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since mid-January, when the first people here became fully vaccinated, all but 35 were not fully vaccinated, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data.