The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 43 more cases of the novel coronavirus and no additional deaths, raising totals on the eve of Maine’s partial economic reopening Monday.

Maine now has 89 deaths and 2,325 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Of the total case number, 2,067 have been confirmed by testing and another 258 are considered probable cases.

Subtracting numbers of people who have recovered – 1,552 – and died, there were 684 active cases on Sunday.

Although a wide swath of businesses and social activities will resume on Monday, Gov. Janet Mills is still warning Mainers to stay inside and keep their distance as much as possible.

Indoor religious services resumed on Friday. On Monday, retailers, parks, beaches, lodging places and campgrounds may open to patrons, provided they’re Maine residents or out-of-staters who have quarantined for two weeks.

Mills recently required businesses to post signs informing customers that face masks are required inside their establishments, a rule that has seen spotty observance.

Citizen participation will be important – and also difficult to attain, perhaps – in another vital aspect of pandemic control: contact tracing. Health officials work quickly after a patient tests positive for COVID-19 to find all people that person may have come in contact with while infected. Though critical to controlling the pandemic, contact tracing runs contrary to the values of some Americans who may prefer not to share personal information with the government.

 

County by county on Sunday, there were 298 coronavirus cases in Androscoggin, 10 in Aroostook, 1,175 in Cumberland, 36 in Franklin, 11 in Hancock, 128 in Kennebec, 20 each in Knox and Lincoln, 34 in Oxford, 100 in Penobscot, one in Piscataquis, 30 in Sagadahoc, 22 in Somerset, 51 in Waldo, two in Washington, and 385 in York.

By age, 5.1 percent of patients were under 20, while 13.2 percent were in their 20s, 14.1 percent were in their 30s, 15.7 percent were in their 40s, 17.8 percent were in their 50s, 13.4 percent were in their 60s, 10.1 percent were in their 70s, and 10.5 percent were 80 or older.

Women still were the majority of cases, at 51.7 percent.

Maine’s hospitals were holding steady Sunday with 49 COVID-19 patients, a slight rise from 46 on Saturday but below the highest totals for the past week. Eighteen of those patients were in critical care and 10 were on ventilators.

Maine had 152 intensive care unit beds available of a statewide 395, and 233 ventilators available of 319, with another 441 alternative ventilators.

Around the world on Sunday evening, there were 6.1 million cases and more than 371,000 deaths. The United States still led other countries in both statistics, with nearly 1.8 million cases and 104,232 deaths.

Related Headlines


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: