Surge continues as Maine CDC reports 188 new COVID-19 cases

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday reported 188 new COVID-19 cases and no additional deaths, the latest addition to an ongoing summer surge. There were 68 patients with the coronavirus in hospitals around the state.

State officials are investigating an outbreak at a Waldo County church – 15 cases at the Calvary Chapel Belfast, which is in Searsmont. Waldo County is a hot spot in the statewide surge, with 50 cases per 10,000 residents as of Friday, the most of any county in Maine.

Maine’s cumulative COVID-19 cases rose to 72,521 on Saturday. Of those, 52,676 have been confirmed by testing and 19,845 are considered probable cases of COVID-19. The seven-day average of new daily cases was 173.5, and the 14-day average was 147.

Nine hundred four people have died with COVID-19 in Maine since the pandemic began.

Five Maine counties – Waldo, Knox, Somerset, Penobscot and Piscataquis – were listed in the Maine CDC’s “high” transmission range as of Saturday. Except for Kennebec County, which has moderate transmission, all other Maine counties show substantial transmission, the threshold at which the Maine CDC recommends that the vaccinated wear masks indoors.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday recommended giving third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to immunocompromised people as the more virulent delta variant sweeps the country.

By Saturday morning, Maine had given 825,487 people the final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Among people 12 and older, the population currently eligible for vaccination, 69.71 percent are now fully vaccinated.

Maine as of Friday had recorded 863 “breakthrough” cases, which occur when a fully vaccinated person contracts COVID-19. Unvaccinated people still make up the vast majority of new cases, and COVID-19 vaccines provide strong protection against serious illness even if a vaccinated person catches the disease.

County by county as of Saturday, there had been 8,621 coronavirus cases in Androscoggin, 2,092 in Aroostook, 17,911 in Cumberland, 1,444 in Franklin, 1,491 in Hancock, 6,849 in Kennebec, 1,254 in Knox, 1,169 in Lincoln, 3,771 in Oxford, 6,844 in Penobscot, 648 in Piscataquis, 1,519 in Sagadahoc, 2,414 in Somerset, 1,344 in Waldo, 1,006 in Washington and 14,144 in York.

By age, 19 percent of patients were under 20, while 18.3 percent were in their 20s, 15.3 percent were in their 30s, 13.4 percent were in their 40s, 14.4 percent were in their 50s, 10.2 percent were in their 60s, 5.3 percent were in their 70s, and 4.1 percent were 80 or older.

Of the 68 patients with COVID-19 in Maine hospitals on Saturday, 35 were in intensive care and 14 were on ventilators.

Around the world on Saturday afternoon, there were 206.5 million known cases of COVID-19 and 4.35 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 36.6 million cases and 621,199 deaths.