The state reported there were two more people in Maine hospitals with the coronavirus on Sunday, but the total remained below 100.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 96 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Sunday; of those, 21 were in critical care and seven on ventilators. A total of 94 people were in hospitals statewide on Saturday.

The statewide trend continues to be significantly fewer hospitalized patients compared to January. The peak came on Jan. 13, when there were 436 people in Maine hospitals with COVID-19. Before Saturday, the last time the total was fewer than 100 was on Aug. 21, when there were 88.

The state reported three more COVID-19 deaths Saturday. Since the pandemic began, 2,182 Mainers have died.

The Maine CDC added 159 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 233,696 since the pandemic began. Those case numbers do not include those who have taken home tests. The state does not typically report new cases or additional deaths on Sunday and Monday.

Health experts have said that most who are seriously ill and hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been fully vaccinated. Mainers who have been fully vaccinated now number 992,630, or 73.84 percent of the state’s 1.34 million population, according to the Maine CDC. Cumberland County, the most populated county, has a vaccination rate of 84.48 percent.

Overall, there’s been a declining number of cases in the United States and Maine in recent weeks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its “community levels” data on Thursday, showing a low risk of transmission of the virus in 85 percent of the nation. Also, most of Maine – 11 of the 16 counties including Cumberland, York and Androscoggin – are color coded green, meaning they have a low risk of transmission.

Another indicator of how new cases have dropped is among Portland students and staff, according to the Portland Public School’s district COVID-19 report card.

During the week of Jan. 9, there were 527 positive test results of COVID-19 for Portland’s 16 schools. In that week there were 63 positives in Deering High School, 49 at Portland High School, and zero positive tests at Portland Arts and Technology School. During the week of March 13 there were only 21 positive cases in the city’s schools, including Deering High, 2; Portland High, 4; and zero at Portland Arts and Technology.

With the low numbers of new cases and health officials recommending that masking is no longer recommended, Portland schools dropped their mask mandate on March 14 with a few exceptions.

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