Maine’s COVID-19 hospitalizations continued their steady ascent on Thursday, jumping 14 percent over the day before.
That comes as most measures to control the spread of the coronavirus have been phased out and 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 193 Mainers infected with the virus in hospitals across the state as of Thursday morning, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 169 the day before and from 130 just 10 days earlier — a 14 percent and 48 percent increase, respectively.
It’s also the highest point Maine has seen hospitalizations climb to since Feb. 24, when there were 191 people infected with the virus in hospitals across the state.
Of those currently hospitalized, 33 are in critical care — up slightly from the day before — and three on ventilators, unchanged since Wednesday.
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.