State health officials reported 735 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, as well as six additional deaths, marking the second consecutive day that Maine overcame 700 new infections.
The new cases occur a day after Maine saw an additional 748 COVID-19 infections, breaking the previous peak in more than 150 cases. The death toll in the state of COVID-19 also continues to rise, with 127 of Maine’s 317 total deaths in the past four weeks.
To date, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked a total of 21,226 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in the state in mid-March, with half of the cases occurring last month. Despite the recent increase, however, Maine continues to have one of the lowest per capita infection and mortality rates in the country, as states across the country report similar record-setting trends.
At least part of this week’s large number of infections is likely attributable to recent changes in the state test lab, although Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah has also warned that the increases remain “worrying”.
Pedestrians walk on Free Street in Portland in late November. Derek Davis / Team photographer Buy this photo
The spike in cases that began this fall led to a backlog in the Maine CDC lab as the team struggled to keep up with the lengthy verification process. Maine CDC has simplified this process in the past few days and brought in additional staff to resolve the backlog, which Shah said probably contributed to Wednesday’s record number of cases and may result in higher numbers in subsequent days.
“Although this increase is worrying, and represents a true figure. . . it does not represent a noticeable increase over a 24-hour period, ”Shah said at a news conference on Wednesday. Shah added that other metrics, including the test’s positive rate, have improved in the past few days, suggesting that things may have really stalled in Maine.
Of the 748 new cases registered on Wednesday, 183 resulted from laboratory results received since Monday, the agency said. The rest was previously informed and was part of the backlog.
Infections have increased in Maine and across the country since Thanksgiving, when the virus spread during family or group gatherings – a dynamic that public health officials fear will repeat itself immediately after the current holiday season.
Meanwhile, thousands of frontline health workers and long-term residents were vaccinated against COVID-19 when the first supply of two vaccines began to flow into the state. On Wednesday afternoon, the Maine CDC reported at least 8,001 vaccinations across the state, with that number growing steadily as hospitals and two national pharmacy chains maintain vaccine clinics for high-priority individuals.
Maine’s seven-day average of new daily cases was 478 on Thursday, compared with 221 four weeks ago and an average of seven new daily cases of 76 new daily cases in late October.
Maine CDC has yet to release new hospitalization numbers on Thursday morning. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 187 people hospitalized across the state with COVID-19 – an increase of more than 10 times since November 1 – with 46 of these people being treated in intensive care units and 19 individuals connected to ventilators.
Governor Janet Mills said during the briefing on Wednesday that while the arrival of vaccines offers a “ray of hope desperately needed”, the state still faces difficult months ahead as the public health community works to vaccinate as many of people as quickly as possible.
“The bottom line is: we in Maine are still in the agonies of this virus, like all states in the country,” said Mills. “We can and should better control this.”
This story will be updated.
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