States add vaccine records online as Maine plans to expand vaccine

As Maine continues to immunize health workers for COVID-19, it is also planning its next steps for when the vaccination scale expands a lot, possibly including the launch of an online tool for people to schedule their vaccines.

State officials also continue to ponder the details of which population groups should be next in line for the vaccine.

Maine reported 597 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a sharp increase from the previous three days, which saw numbers in the 300s. Nine additional Maine people died from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in states like New Jersey, people can pre-register for a COVID-19 vaccination. Other states and cities are considering similar plans for online registrations.

Maine is also planning a pre-registration program for when vaccines will be most widely available, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a news conference on Monday.

Shah said the online tool, which will be launched later, will aim to avoid long lines at vaccination sites, which could expose people to COVID-19 while awaiting immunization. Shah said the idea is to fill out much of the necessary paperwork before people show up to be vaccinated.

“What we really want to do is try to do the pre-work as much as possible,” said Shah. “We want people to come and go in order to keep the risk of exposure as low as possible.”

The Mills administration is still determining the details of Phase 1B, the next stage of the vaccination program. Maine CDC expects to announce Phase 1B decisions soon, the agency’s spokesman Robert Long said on Tuesday as he refused to provide a timetable.

Maine is likely to move from Phase 1A, which includes healthcare professionals, paramedics and nursing home staff and residents, to Phase 1B, which may include people aged 75 and over and essential frontline workers in February. Phase 1A includes 130,000 inhabitants, while Phase 1B comprises an additional 200,000 people. Combined, this represents about 25% of Maine’s population. So far, more than 35,000 people in Maine have received at least the first dose of the vaccine.

The groups are struggling to get as high as possible on the Maine CDC priority list for vaccination, as the Mills administration is still discussing some details about who gets the vaccine and when.

Shah said on Monday that there may be changes within 1B to prioritize older residents who are more vulnerable to dying from COVID-19, and for essential workers to be grouped based on risk. Essential frontline workers are likely to include teachers, police, postal workers, workers in food processing plants and supermarket clerks. Therefore, some essential frontline workers may be among the first to receive vaccines in February, while others will expect more.

Steve Hewins, president and CEO of HospitalityMaine, which represents the tourism industry, said that restaurant and hotel employees, who are currently listed in Phase 1C by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, should be moved to 1B. He said these employees should get their vaccinations at the same time as supermarket workers, because they have similar levels of risk.

The US CDC places restaurant and hotel workers in Phase 1C based on the risk of exposure and the importance of industries to a functioning society. But states have not always followed the US CDC guidelines on who to vaccinate first.

For example, Florida and Texas are starting to vaccinate the elderly now, while Massachusetts is immunizing police and prison officers before grocery workers. The US CDC recommends that grocery store clerks be vaccinated at the same stage as police and brokers.

Hewins said the hospitality sector is in its “darkest days” and “vaccinating employees would be the trigger to get the sector back on its feet”. He said hotels are also considered essential to provide quarantine facilities and shelter homeless people during the pandemic.

Tim Rich, owner of The Independent Cafe in Bar Harbor, said the restaurant industry is the “backbone of the tourism economy”.

“It’s hard to find employees now because people are scared,” said Rich. His cafe is closed for the season, but he hopes to open it in late March or early April. “If many people can be vaccinated, it will make everyone feel comfortable entering our restaurant, whether they are employees coming to work or our customers.”

Long, the Maine CDC spokesman, said “no final determination” has been made as to what categories of work will be defined as “essential frontline workers” to be vaccinated in Phase 1B.

“We value the opinion of HospitalityMaine and similar groups as we continue to vaccinate in Phase 1A with speed and equity in the state’s vaccination plan, and as we finalize plans for 1B,” said Long in an e-mailed response to the questions.

Long said that, in general, how quickly Maine can vaccinate its population depends on how quickly the federal government can send doses of vaccine to states. So far, Maine has received about 15,000 to 20,000 doses per week, while Shah said the state needs about 50,000 doses per week to reduce “supply restrictions” in administering the vaccine.

Shah also said that older residents may be given an accelerated priority, but discussions between state officials are ongoing.

Jane Margesson, director of communications for AARP Maine, said that “all older Mainers should be prioritized,” but the organization is awaiting the decision by Mills’ management in Phase 1B.

“While there is a lot of discussion about the elderly versus essential workers, AARP is focused on ensuring that all older Americans are prioritized for vaccination. Here in Maine, for example, many elderly people are essential workers, ”said Margesson. “Vaccination of people most likely to end up in the hospital eases the burden on community health systems; a big problem here in Maine, especially in our most rural counties. “

Since the start of the pandemic, 26,565 people in Maine have tested positive for COVID-19, with 369 deaths.

Shah said during a news conference on Monday that in the early days of the new year, Maine may still be experiencing a delay in reported cases, not just because of the labs that report the holiday results to the state health agency, but also people may have postponed the test around the New Year holiday.

There were 376 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Monday, 350 on Sunday and 342 on Saturday, but in the last week of 2020, Maine had case counts in excess of 500 and 700 per day. The seven-day daily average of new cases was 522.3 on Tuesday, compared with 452.3 the previous week and 262.7 the previous month.

As of Tuesday, 35,536 Mainers had received at least the first dose of the vaccine.

There are 191 people currently hospitalized in Maine, with 50 in critical care.

Shah said a more contagious variant of COVID-19 has yet to be detected in Maine, but it is probably just a “matter of time” before it arrives. Some states have detected the new strain, including Colorado, California and New York. Shah said the vaccine will still be highly effective against the new variant, but knowing that it is more contagious makes wearing masks and social distance even more important.

The deaths that the Maine CDC listed on Tuesday, which included a person whose county was not available on Monday, were a man in the 80s in Aroostook County; a woman in her 80s in Aroostook County; two men in their 70s in Cumberland County; a man in his 70s in Penobscot County; a 70-year-old woman from Somerset County; a man in his 80s from York County; a 70-year-old woman from York County; and two women in their 90s from York County.

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