The number of people hospitalized in Maine with COVID-19 is continuing to drop.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 282 people were in the hospital Saturday, down 35 percent from a peak of 436 on Jan. 13. That number dipped below 300 on Friday for the first time since before Thanksgiving, a promising sign to public health officials.

Of those hospitalized, 65 are in critical care, a 51 percent decrease from the pandemic record of 133 on Dec. 19. Thirty-one patients are on ventilators. Those indicators remain consistent with the data reported on Friday, when 294 patients were hospitalized. More than 4,100 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine since the pandemic began.

 

Maine health officials reported four more COVID-19 deaths as of Friday, bringing the pandemic total to 1,828. The death toll has not let up even as other indicators continue to show the omicron surge is receding in Maine and nationwide.

The state also reported 1,924 new cases, although daily case counts in Maine no longer provide an accurate representation of current transmission because of a massive backlog of positive tests and because of the increasing volume of home tests. However, the number of raw positive test results coming into the Maine CDC each day has been steadily dropping since mid-January. The total number of reported cases in Maine during the pandemic is 187,697.

More than 980,000 Mainers are considered fully vaccinated. That’s 73 percent of the state’s 1.3 million residents. About 570,000, or 42 percent of the population, have also received a booster shot. Cumberland County has the highest percentage of fully vaccinated residents at 84 percent, while Somerset County has the lowest at 60 percent.

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