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.
Fourteen men and 13 women have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,910.
Five were from Androscoggin County, one from Aroostook County, three from Cumberland County, one from Franklin County, one from Hancock County, three from Kennebec County, one from Lincoln County, two from Oxford County, five from Penobscot County, one from Washington County and four from York County.
Of those, eight were 80 or older, eight were in their 70s, seven in their 60s, three in their 50s and one in their 40s.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 29,844. 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 up from 27,504 on Thursday.
The new case rate statewide Friday was 28.05 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 1,567.23.
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. Of those, 245 are currently hospitalized, with 60 in critical care and 26 on a ventilator. Overall, 72 out of 359 critical care beds and 253 out of 328 ventilators are available.
That’s the lowest number of hospitalizations since Nov. 13, 2021, when 240 Mainers infected with the virus were in the state’s hospitals. They are down nearly 45 percent from the pandemic high of 436, set on Jan. 13.
The total statewide hospitalization rate on Friday was 31.60 patients per 10,000 residents.
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.
An additional 941 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Friday, 984,604 Mainers are fully vaccinated, or about 76.9 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Friday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 78,273,884 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 931,769 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.