Another 420 COVID-19 cases reported in Maine – Portland Press Herald – Press Herald

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 420 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday but no additional deaths linked to the viral disease.

Maine continues to see high numbers of new coronavirus infections even as the state’s vaccination campaign makes gradual progress. On Monday, the state exceeded the 1 million mark for doses delivered into arms and was steadily creeping toward achieving another milestone: one third of the state’s population having received all shots necessary for full vaccination against COVID-19.

As of Monday night, 42.7 percent of the state’s roughly 1.3 million residents had received at least one shot while 32.2 percent had received either both shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or the single-shot vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson. Those figures rise to 50.6 percent and 38.5 percent, respectively, when calculated just among the 16-and-older population that is eligible for vaccination.

Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah announced on Twitter on Tuesday morning that walk-up vaccinations are now available at the mobile vaccination clinic in Windham this week. The clinic, which is operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is located at 795 Roosevelt Trail and will operate between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

“Please note that folks with existing appointments will be given priority,” Shah said in his tweet. “So it is still preferable to call ahead to schedule your shot. The # is 888-445-4111.”

Cases continue to trend upward, however, at a faster rate than in most other states.

With Tuesday’s 420 new cases, Maine’s seven-day, rolling average stood at 453 on Tuesday. While that is lower than the seven-day average of 475 reported on Monday, the average was 369 for the seven-day period ending on April 20 and was 200 four weeks ago. Maine’s rolling average peaked at 623 in mid-January, quickly declined to a low of 137 on February 20 but has been climbing steadily since then.

Maine had the nation’s sixth-highest daily rate of new cases for the past week at 35 cases for every 100,000 residents, according to tracking by the Global Epidemics program at Brown University’s School of Public Health. The states with higher rates were Rhode Island, Michigan, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

As vaccinations of older adults increase, the age of new cases is also trending younger. Among the 420 new cases reported on Tuesday, 25 percent were among individuals under age 20 while 19 percent were among people in their 20s.

To date, the Maine CDC has tracked 57,965 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 since the coronavirus was first detected in the state in March 2020. There have been at least 767 deaths linked to the disease, with the vast majority of those occurring among people age 70 or older.

Shah is slated to hold a briefing today at 2 p.m.

This story will be updated.

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