The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 281 cases of the novel coronavirus and no additional deaths, a comparatively moderate rise in case numbers amid an ongoing surge.

Maine saw 617 new cases on Saturday and six deaths, which followed a daily record of 782 new cases Friday.

The state’s cumulative cases rose to 29,298 on Sunday, of which 24,430 have been confirmed by testing and 4,868 are considered probable cases of the coronavirus. Four hundred thirty-two people have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in Maine.

The state’s seven-day average of new daily cases reached 530.9 on Sunday – a slight dip from Saturday’s seven-day average – and 190 people were in Maine hospitals with COVID-19. Meanwhile, Maine has given 54,557 cumulative vaccinations against COVID-19.

The state’s vaccine rollout has seen mixed results so far. Maine has distributed doses faster in proportion to population than many other states, but after a month of vaccinations the state has given out only half of its supply. And it’s unclear how Maine will reach its original goal of 50,000 shots a week.

Maine’s current rate of inoculation is around 12,000 per week, far short of the numbers needed to immunize the population by midsummer.

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State officials in charge of Maine’s vaccine distribution said much of the unused COVID-19 vaccine supply is meant for long-term care facilities. Officials also cited small and unreliable shipments from the federal government as major contributors to the delay in Maine’s vaccine plans.

The pandemic’s economic pressures have strained Maine’s food pantries, whose leaders say they’re just barely meeting the present demand, and will need more federal relief in the future. Last spring, pantries reported a 25 percent increase in clients.

Those numbers rose again this fall, with 61 percent of food pantries reporting an average client increase of 12 percent in November, according to Good Shepherd Food Bank, which supplies pantries across the state.

County by county in Maine since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 3,173 coronavirus cases in Androscoggin, 851 in Aroostook, 8,598 in Cumberland, 514 in Franklin, 621 in Hancock, 2,181 in Kennebec, 415 in Knox, 355 in Lincoln, 1,311 in Oxford, 2,555 in Penobscot, 142 in Piscataquis, 506 in Sagadahoc, 853 in Somerset, 403 in Waldo, 429 in Washington, and 6,389 in York.

By age, 13.7 percent of patients were under 20, while 18.2 percent were in their 20s, 14.7 percent were in their 30s, 13.3 percent were in their 40s, 15.4 percent were in their 50s, 11.8 percent were in their 60s, 6.8 percent were in their 70s, and 6.2 percent were 80 or older.

Of the 190 patients with COVID-19 in Maine hospitals on Sunday, 57 were in intensive care and 21 were on ventilators. The state had 76 intensive care unit beds available of a total 390, and 220 ventilators available of 320. There were also 443 alternative ventilators.

Around the world on Sunday night, there were 90.1 million known cases of COVID-19 and 1.93 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 22.3 million cases and 373,797 deaths.

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