COVID-19 cases and school outbreaks continue to increase, but hospitalizations are declining

State health officials reported another high daily COVID-19 case count on Thursday, despite hospitalizations steadily declining from the pandemic peak at the end of last month.

The number of outbreaks and cases in schools in Maine has also increased since last week, according to the latest information on Thursday from the state ministry of education. However, the increase is much smaller than reported in the last two weeks, indicating that the surge may have eased.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine reported 680 new cases, with an average daily number of 556 cases over 7 days, up from 466 cases two weeks ago and 316 cases last month. increase. Half of Thursday’s new cases were individuals under the age of 40.

Since the pandemic reached Maine in March 2020, there have been 93,881 confirmed or estimated cases of COVID-19, at which point 2,569 were hospitalized and 1,066 died.In the last three days, the CDC has reported a total of 40 deaths, 30 of which Regular review of death certificate It occurred between September 11th and 29th.

According to the US CDC, more than 700,000 Americans have died from the virus nationwide.

The number of people admitted to COVID-19 in Maine continues to decline sharply. As of Thursday, there were 152 individuals in the hospital, 46 of whom were on critical care and 23 were on ventilator. Over the past two weeks, hospitalizations have decreased by 45% and the number of critical care patients has decreased by 80%.

In the United States as a whole, COVID-19 hospitalizations have dropped from an average of 81,725 ​​two weeks ago to 63,921, or 28 percent, according to the US CDC.

The decline of Maine is felt uneven among the state’s major hospitals.

The number of inpatients with the virus at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and the Maine Generals in Augusta dropped sharply this week, a month after hitting record levels.

The number of confirmed COVID inpatients at EMMC dropped from 33 to 22 in the week leading up to Thursday after reaching 59 on September 18, the highest ever seen in a Maine hospital during a pandemic. It became a number. MaineGeneral’s tally dropped even more sharply from 20 to just 8 in a week after experiencing the worst pandemic burden last week.

The largest hospital in southern Maine has gradually declined. Weekly COVID inpatients at Portland’s Maine Medical Center decreased from 32.7 in the previous week to 32.9. At the Southern Main Healthcare Medical Center in Biddeford, the numbers were 10.1 and 14.4.

However, Lewiston’s Central Maine Medical Center continued to grow. The data reported by the hospital was incomplete, but it seems that the number of patients increased by about 50% in a week and hit 20 confirmed COVID-19 inpatients on Sunday, the highest level since May. ..

Also on Thursday, the Maine Department of Education released the latest data on positive cases and outbreaks in public schools. Since the beginning of the school year, there are currently 2,910 cases between staff and students, an increase of 332 cases from last week. Five more schools have reached outbreaks, bringing the total to 113.

“Maine continues to experience community infections, so we should expect some infections to occur in schools,” CDC spokesman Robert Long said in an email Thursday. .. “But tools such as vaccination, masking, pooled testing, and contact tracing for qualified people are available in schools to limit the path of potential infections.”

Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have declined nationwide in recent weeks, especially in areas where delta variants have previously settled. However, incidents are still increasing in some states, including Maine.

Over the last few weeks, Maine’s daily case reports have been affected by a positive test backlog, after a surge in cases has overwhelmed the institution’s ability to screen daily cases to eliminate duplication and follow-up. .. However, Dr. Niraveshire, CDC director in Maine, said Wednesday that less than 100 unresolved proceedings were pending. The backlog was 2,500 tests.

According to the U.S. CDC, the 7-day case rate per 100,000 people in Maine was 267, the 17th highest in the state during that period, higher than 204 cases nationwide per 100,000 people. .. Another New England state, Connecticut, has the second lowest infection rate in the last seven days, with only 80 cases per 100,000.

Immunization rates in Maine and Connecticut are about the same, but Connecticut immunization rates are more uniform across states. In Maine, there remains a large disparity between the southern coastal counties and the more rural inland counties. Shah said Wednesday that large pockets of unvaccinated people in some of these counties are where the virus is most prevalent and where people are sick enough to be hospitalized. rice field.

There is now plenty of evidence to support the belief that more infections are occurring in areas with low vaccination rates.

According to the latest data released by the Maine CDC, Cumberland County has the lowest virus infection rate in the last 14 days (34 cases per 10,000 people) and a much higher vaccination rate of 75.9%.

Conversely, the two counties with the highest infection rates in the last 14 days, Piscatakis (115 per 10,000) and Somerset (101 per 10,000), also had the lowest vaccination rates of 55.3% and 53.7%, respectively. It has become.

Overall, Maine received 882,120 doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This represents 65.6% of all residents and 74.5% of qualified 12 years and older.

Pfizer officially requested the US Food and Drug Administration to approve a vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years on Thursday. If approved, the US CDC will decide whether to recommend shots to young people. According to Pfizer’s application, younger children receive one-third of the dose given to adults.

In addition, the state has so far given 38,443 third doses of Pfizer vaccine to older mainners and people with weakened immunity. The US CDC recommends additional doses for these groups.

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