Maine hospitals are caring for 209 patients with COVID-19, the state reported Monday.

The number increased from 205 on Sunday and is the highest statewide patient count since late February. Of the patients hospitalized on Monday morning, 29 were in critical care and four were on ventilators.

Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention also reported 445 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. No additional deaths were reported.

Since the pandemic began, the state has recorded 251,134 cases and 2,325 deaths.

Maine continues to have the highest rate of new infections among the states, with 407.2 infections per 100,000 people over the last seven days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other New England states also have very high infection rates, according to the CDC. They are: Vermont, 394.7 per 100,000; Rhode Island, 385.1 per 100,000; and Massachusetts, 329.7 per 100,000.

But health officials note that the increase in cases and hospitalizations is not near levels seen during January’s omicron surge, and that current cases are often mild. Maine’s high vaccination rate and partial immunity from recent omicron infections are protecting people from serious illness in most cases. Health officials have said most people needing hospital care are either unvaccinated or have underlying medical conditions that put them more at risk of complications.

The prevalence of the coronavirus has increased in recent weeks as new more contagious omicron subvariants have emerged and spread, especially in the Northeast.

On April 1, all 16 Maine counties were designated low-level for community transmission, but Thursday, the federal CDC categorized Cumberland County and seven others in Maine as high level for community transmission and recommended that people in those counties wear masks in indoor public settings. The other seven counties are: Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Aroostook.

Seven counties – York, Kennebec, Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, Waldo and Washington – are now designated as moderate for both community transmission and hospitalizations and those with health issues should mask up indoors in public areas, the CDC says. Androscoggin is the only county now designated as low transmission.

The federal designations are based on case counts, hospitalizations and hospital capacity. A high level means there is greater risk that hospitals could be strained by patients needing care.

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