Maine’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have now risen to their highest point in two months.
That comes as a surge in cases accompanying the spread of the so-called stealth omicron variant — BA.2 — gains a foothold in Maine, erasing for the moment gains the state made in reducing hospitalizations since the winter.
There are now 162 Mainers infected with the virus in hospitals across the state as of Tuesday morning, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 150 the day before and up from 104 on April 23, a 56 percent increase.
It’s the highest level of hospitalizations seen in Maine since March 3, state data show.
Of those, 30 Mainers are in critical care and three on ventilators.
Despite the renewed surge in cases and hospitalizations, the situation in Maine is not as dire as during the peak of winter, when more than 430 Mainers were hospitalized at one point with the virus and the Maine CDC was swamped with a backlog of positive cases.