Maine reported 376 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, and an additional death.
The number of new cases has been slightly lower in the past three days compared to last week – with case counts below 400, as opposed to 500s or 700s – but it was not immediately clear whether Maine is still experiencing a delay in reporting related cases with New Year’s holiday. In the first two days after Christmas, Maine reported counts in lower case, but daily case counts increased thereafter, as labs increased the delay.
Maine’s daily COVID-19 case numbers are far surpassing summer and early fall, when the state was facing about 30 new cases per day across the state. Overall, Maine had 25,968 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 360 deaths.
Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, will speak to the media at 2 pm today. He said in a Maine Public radio appearance this morning that Maine lately seems to have reached a “high plateau” in cases, although he warned that it could still change.
“I have reason to hope and optimism,” said Shah, regarding the increased supply of vaccines this winter and spring and the possible end of the pandemic later this year.
The seven-day average of new daily cases stood at 521.3 on Monday, compared with 433.4 in the previous week and 225.6 in the previous month.
Vaccines continue to arrive, with 33,425 people receiving the first dose of the vaccine. The first people to be vaccinated in Maine include frontline health workers, employees and residents of nursing homes and paramedics. Maine is scheduled to receive a shipment of 17,075 doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines this week, bringing the total number of doses sent to Maine to more than 81,000.
Those over 75 – about 107,000 of Maine’s 1.3 million population – are wondering when they will get the vaccine. They are currently included in Phase 1B, at the same time as essential workers, but there is no set deadline for when they will be immunized or how exactly the distribution for that age group will be conducted. Elderly patients are the most vulnerable to die from COVID-19, with about 85 percent of deaths among people aged 70 and over.
“Many people want to know where they are on the list, but unfortunately there is no list, because the schedule is still up,” said Dr. James Jarvis, Eastern Maine Medical Center at Northern Light Health in Bangor, in an interview published Sunday.
Shah said the state is considering changing its plan to raise 75 or more on the priority vaccination list. From now on, a rough estimate of when older Mainers could start being immunized would be in late January or February.
Some seniors criticized the Mills administration for putting elderly Mainers in the same spot in the vaccine line as essential workers, like grocery store clerks.
Shah said in Maine Public on Monday that key workers – such as grocery store clerks and police officers – interact with the public and represent a large percentage of people who have contracted COVID-19, so vaccinating them will help prevent disease and transmission. But protecting the elderly is also a very high priority, which is why the state is evaluating its next steps.
Shah said how many doses the state will receive in the coming weeks and months will largely determine what can be done.
This story will be updated.
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