Outbreak continues as Maine CDC reports 295 more COVID-19 cases

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported an additional 295 cases of COVID-19 and no further deaths, a continuing increase in infections as the state prepares to open the door to midweek vaccination.

Health officials have raised concerns that a sudden increase in cases could hamper their efforts to eradicate the coronavirus through collective immunity and are asking the inhabitants of Mainers to be vaccinated. All Mainers aged 16 and over will be eligible for a chance starting this Wednesday, as Maine expects to receive even higher doses of doses.

Maine’s cumulative COVID-19 cases increased to 51,763 on Sunday. Of these, 39,520 were confirmed by tests and 12,243 are considered probable cases of COVID-19. The seven-day average of new daily cases rose to 273.1 on Sunday, up from 259.1 on Saturday and much higher than the 194.4 on the previous Saturday.

Seven hundred and forty-five people have died of COVID-19 since the Maine pandemic began.

As of Sunday, 458,324 Mainers had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 308,660 received the final dose. Out of the Maine population of 1.3 million, 34.1 percent received their first dose, according to Maine CDC statistics.

Meanwhile, a debate has begun over whether companies and other public facilities should institute a “vaccine passport” system to encourage immunization and reduce the spread among the unvaccinated population. In this system, people who wish to attend a concert, for example, need to present proof of vaccination.

And last week, the director of operations at Thompson’s Point, a popular Portland location, said that if a viable passport system was available, the company would consider using it. The business and health benefits are easy to see: if all people at a given event are vaccinated, the chances of spreading the disease are minimal.

But opponents raised concerns about health privacy. Should people be required to share personal health information in order to participate in public life?

Other states have adopted a number of different approaches. In Florida, last week, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order prohibiting any company from requiring proof of vaccination. But in New York, authorities have developed the Excelsior Pass, a collaboration with IBM that allows people with proof of immunization to attend major venues like Madison Square Garden and Times Union Center in Albany.

Governor Janet Mills has the power to create such a system, but so far she has not. Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s CDC, said the idea has some public health merits, but it also raises issues of privacy and equality.

“This approach … is still worrisome,” said Shah last week. “There are significant concerns about data privacy, as well as significant concerns about equity. If the passport assumes that you have to be vaccinated, have we really done a good job of vaccinating these people? I think that’s why now our focus is on getting people who are eligible at the door for vaccines. “

County by county until Sunday, there were 5,473 cases of coronavirus in Androscoggin, 1,437 in Aroostook, 14,203 in Cumberland, 1,002 in Franklin, 1,087 in Hancock, 4,434 in Kennebec, 819 in Knox, 680 in Lincoln, 2,628 in Oxford, 4,727 in Penobscot, 389 in Piscataquis, 1,009 in Sagadahoc, 1,434 in Somerset, 722 in Waldo, 782 in Washington and 10,937 in York.

By age, 16.5% of patients were under 20 years old, while 18.2% were 20 years old, 14.3% were 30 years old, 13.2% were 40 years old, 15.3% were 50 years old, 11, 4% were 60 years old, 6.1% were in their 70s and 5% were 80 years old or more.

Of the 72 patients with COVID-19 in Maine hospitals on Sunday, 28 were in intensive care and eight were on ventilators. The state had 96 beds of intensive care units available out of a total of 378, and 245 ventilators available from 319. There were also 446 alternative ventilators.

Worldwide on Sunday afternoon, there were 131.1 million known cases of COVID-19 and nearly 2.85 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 30.7 million cases and 554,988 deaths.

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