COVID-19 pummels Maine with 624 new cases, 3 more deaths – Press Herald

State health officials reported 624 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest daily total since the peak of the pandemic last January.

The latest surge that began in early July continues in Maine as the more contagious delta variant drives up infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths in the state. In addition to the 624 new cases — the largest single-day jump since Jan. 22 — the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reported three additional deaths linked to COVID-19.

With new positive test results flooding into the state lab, Maine CDC staff have been scrambling to review and process all of the new cases. As a result, some of Thursday’s cases could include new infections reported to the state over multiple days.

But the seven-day average shows the steady upward trajectory of new cases. The average stood at 316 on Thursday, nearly double the average two weeks or one incubation period ago and higher than any at any point since late April.

The Maine CDC has tracked 76,913 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 since the coronavirus was first detected in the state in March 2020. With the three additional deaths reported on Thursday, there have now been at least 937 deaths linked to COVID-19 in the state during the pandemic.

New hospitalization figures were not yet available Thursday morning. But as of Wednesday, there were 150 people hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, which was the highest figure since Feb. 4. Of those, 66 are in critical care and 26 are on ventilators. Total hospitalizations have tripled in less than a month and the number of people in critical care has reached levels not seen since winter.

Maine continues to have among the lowest infection and death rates in the nation both for the current surge driven by the delta variant and for the entire pandemic, however. Maine ranks just behind Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts in terms of the states with the highest proportion of their population that has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

As of Thursday, 71.6 percent of eligible Mainers and 63 percent of all 1.3 million residents had received the full regimen of doses required for full vaccination. Inoculation rates have been climbing again in recent weeks, after slumping during the late-spring and early-summer, as the delta variant causes new infections and vaccine mandates for certain workers were imposed.

This story will be updated.

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