The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday reported 581 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths as the summer surge in the pandemic threatens to extend through the fall.
Meanwhile, Maine officials are now tracking 14 separate outbreaks in state schools, disrupting the start of the academic year that is just two weeks old. Hospitalizations remained high at 184 on Saturday, compared to Friday’s total of 192 patients in Maine hospitals with COVID-19.
The new data raised the seven-day average for new cases to 348.4 and the 14-day average to 366.4. Both averages have been rising steadily since early July. Maine’s cumulative COVID-19 cases rose to 80,510 on Saturday. Of those, 57,751 have been confirmed by testing and 22,759 are considered probable cases of COVID-19.
Nine hundred sixty-one people have died with COVID-19 in Maine since the pandemic began. Information about the people reported Saturday to have died wasn’t available from the Maine CDC.
The number of school outbreaks seems sure to rise, with myriad reports of further outbreaks not counted in the state data and canceled high school football games.
On Thursday, President Biden announced plans to require vaccination or weekly testing for employees at workplaces of more than 100 people in an effort to contain COVID-19. The requirement is expected to cover roughly 100 million American workers and will be enforced through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The Portland City Council has also signaled support for returning the city to an indoor mask mandate but will not vote on a measure until Monday.
By Saturday morning, Maine had given 858,707 people the final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Among people 12 and older, the population currently eligible for vaccination, 72.51 percent are now fully vaccinated.
Maine as of Friday had recorded 2,258 “breakthrough” cases, which occur when a fully vaccinated person contracts COVID-19. Unvaccinated people still are the vast majority of cases, and are also much likelier to have more serious cases if they do catch COVID-19.
County by county as of Saturday, there had been 9,054 coronavirus cases in Androscoggin, 2,784 in Aroostook, 19,040 in Cumberland, 1,602 in Franklin, 1,832 in Hancock, 7,530 in Kennebec, 1,425 in Knox, 1,316 in Lincoln, 4,012 in Oxford, 8,479 in Penobscot, 838 in Piscataquis, 1,619 in Sagadahoc, 2,837 in Somerset, 1,751 in Waldo, 1,141 in Washington and 15,250 in York.
By age, 19.5 percent of patients were under 20, while 18.3 percent were in their 20s, 15.3 percent were in their 30s, 13.3 percent were in their 40s, 14.1 percent were in their 50s, 10.1 percent were in their 60s, 5.3 percent were in their 70s, and 4.2 percent were 80 or older.
Of the 184 patients with COVID-19 in Maine hospitals on Saturday, 71 were in intensive care and 36 were on ventilators.
Around the world late Saturday afternoon, there were 224.1 million known cases of COVID-19 and over 4.6 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 40.9 million cases and 659,558 deaths.
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