The number of people hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 increased Tuesday.

Maine recorded 99 hospitalizations Tuesday, up from 93 on Monday. Of those hospitalized Tuesday, 14 were in critical care and two on a ventilator.

Since the peak of 436 on Jan. 13, hospitalizations have plummeted in Maine, but have held largely steady at 90 to 100 since mid-March. That coincides with the national trend, which is seeing hospitalizations remain flat or slightly decline as cases increase.

The BA.2 omicron subvariant is driving up case counts across the Northeast. Maine has seen a significant rise in the daily number of new case reports, with the seven-day average climbing 50 percent from about 200 new cases each day to about 300.

But most public health experts are not projecting a major increase in hospitalizations even as cases mount from BA.2, because there’s a high level of immunity in the population from vaccinations and infections. Breakthrough cases of COVID-19 are likely to be less severe than those of patients who are unvaccinated and getting sick from the virus for the first time.

Maine did not report new case counts Tuesday because of the Patriots’ Day holiday Monday. The next report will be Wednesday and will include cases from Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

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