The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday reported 207 cases of the novel coronavirus and one additional death, after state officials announced on Friday they would expand vaccine eligibility to all adults by May 1. It was the second day in a row that the daily case count exceeded 200.
The Biden administration has directed states to throw open the doors for vaccines as the White House promises to dramatically increase supplies. President Biden this past week said he was ordering another 100 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Before the president’s announcement, Maine was planning to start giving shots to people in their 40s on May 1.
Maine’s cumulative COVID-19 cases rose to 46,856 on Saturday. Of those, 36,468 have been confirmed by testing and 10,388 are considered probable cases of COVID-19. The seven-day average of new daily cases was 176.3 on Saturday.
Seven hundred twenty-four people have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in Maine. The most recent person reported to have died was a woman from Piscataquis County in her 70s.
Maine recently announced it would take an age-based approach to vaccine priority, rather than one based on profession or medical risk. Right now, those 60 and older are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. But repeated directives from the White House have forced expansion of the plan, first to teachers and now to all adults.
“With the Biden administration promising to increase the supply of vaccine in the next few months, we will do what we had always hoped we could: accelerate our vaccine timeline,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement Friday.
Maine’s vaccine rollout has caused some confusion for older residents about how to register and know they’re still in line for a shot, but Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, says a centralized booking system is coming “soon.” A federal website to help find vaccination sites is also coming, Biden said this past week.
Some Portland-area music venues have begun scheduling shows for this fall, hoping that mass immunity will clear the way for in-person live music. Six-foot distancing greatly reduces the possible capacity for concerts, making it economically infeasible to put them on, according to venue managers.
The State Theatre in Portland has more than 30 shows booked starting in September, the general manager there said.
As of Saturday morning, 313,587 Mainers had received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 183,047 had received their final dose. Out of Maine’s population of 1.3 million, 23.33 percent have received their first dose, according to Maine CDC statistics.
County by county as of Saturday, there had been 4,973 coronavirus cases in Androscoggin, 1,310 in Aroostook, 13,165 in Cumberland, 934 in Franklin, 958 in Hancock, 3,874 in Kennebec, 692 in Knox, 604 in Lincoln, 2,319 in Oxford, 4,178 in Penobscot, 353 in Piscataquis, 911 in Sagadahoc, 1,290 in Somerset, 633 in Waldo, 736 in Washington and 9,926 in York.
By age, 15.6 percent of patients were under 20, while 18.1 percent were in their 20s, 14.4 percent were in their 30s, 13.1 percent were in their 40s, 15.3 percent were in their 50s, 11.6 percent were in their 60s, 6.4 percent were in their 70s, and 5.4 percent were 80 or older.
Of the 77 patients with COVID-19 in Maine hospitals on Saturday, 24 were in intensive care and 10 were on ventilators. The state had 100 intensive care unit beds available of a total 391, and 244 ventilators available of 319. There were also 446 alternative ventilators.
Around the world on Saturday afternoon, there were 119.3 million known cases of COVID-19 and over 2.6 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 29.3 million cases and 533,868 deaths.
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