Masking is expected to return to Maine as new COVID-19 cases increase

Maine will adopt the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on indoor masking for some vaccinated individuals to prevent the pandemic from retreating due to the recurrence of COVID-19 cases. ..

Dr. Niraveshire, director of the main CDC, said the mask could return to the Bangor City Council on Monday.

“We probably need to be prepared to return to wearing masks in an indoor environment for the time being, even for fully vaccinated people,” Shah told the councilor. According to Bango Daily News.

The Main CDC did not immediately answer questions about mask wearing recommendations on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, state health officials reported 172 new cases of COVID-19 over the three days from Saturday to Monday, raising the level of new viral infections. One more death was reported on Tuesday.

Several national media quoting government sources reported on Tuesday that the U.S. CDC is expected to overturn previous guidance and recommend that vaccinated people resume wearing masks indoors. did. The New York Times and colleagues are expected to include people living with or in close contact with immunocompromised and unvaccinated people (including children under the age of 12). I reported that.

The US CDC has recommended unvaccinated people to continue wearing masks in crowded public places for several months, but those who are forcing policies and masks to become increasingly rare. There is no one.

New COVID-19 cases in Maine include Saturday, Sunday, and Monday cases. This is because the state no longer processes inspections over the weekend and will report the results on Tuesday. The new numbers continue to rise. The average daily number of cases for 7 days, which had been steadily rising for about a month, has bottomed out at an average of about 14 cases at the beginning of the month, and is now 64 cases.

The number of cases is much higher than last summer when people became cautious about large gatherings and wore masks in many public places.

The same trend is occurring across the country and is exacerbated in some areas where highly contagious delta variants are established. The average for seven days in the United States is about 42,000, up from the previous 12,000 last month. Some states, such as Florida, have been hit particularly hard.

Dr. James Jarvis, COVID-19 Incident Commander at Northern Light Health, said he believes that the updated mask guidance is wise and may have some impact, if not obligatory.

“I think some people (want to wear a mask) feel uncomfortable because no one else is there,” he said.

He said breakthrough infections could occur in vaccinated people while the virus was still in widespread circulation.

“Anyone infected can be a source of new variants, perhaps even evading vaccination,” said Jarvis. “This is how the virus works. Masks help prevent the spread, we know it.”

Greg Dugal, director of government affairs at Maine Hospitality, which represents the state’s food and accommodation industry, said no major changes would be seen without a mission.

“Everything our business had to experience last year and earlier this year was in a state of emergency,” he said. “Without that mechanism, I think it would be confusing. The recommendations are really gray areas.”

Dugal said companies do not equip police with masks and should not. The same is true for vaccination status.

“I wasn’t looking forward to this,” he said. “You knew something would happen.”

Of the new cases reported on Tuesday in Maine, 46 are in Cumberland County, which is also the county with the highest vaccination coverage. However, the immunization rate is 72%, as Cumberland County also has the most people, but 84,000 have not yet been vaccinated.

According to data tracked by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the outbreak of the pandemic, 70,076 confirmed or estimated cases of COVID-19 and 898 deaths.

The stable hospitalization also began to sneak up. As of Tuesday, there were 33 patients with COVID-19, an increase of 8 in the last week alone. Eighteen of them were receiving critical care.

Immunization has slowed considerably across Maine and across the country, but there are small signs that demand may be increasing. Overall, Maine has given 807,540 final doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, covering just over 60% of all residents and about 68% of eligible residents over the age of 12.

The average number of shots in Maine for the week ending Saturday, July 24 was 1,299 shots per day, up from the previous week’s average of 1,164 shots per day.

Despite the high overall immunization rates in Maine, many parts of the state are behind. Cumberland County has vaccinated 72% of its population, but the rate in nine counties is less than 55%, two of which (Someset and Piscataquis) have not yet reached 50%.

Geographical disparities are even more pronounced in rural areas. Of the people aged 16-39, 70% of the people in Cumberland County are fully vaccinated, which is close to the overall proportion. However, in the five predominantly rural counties of Somerset, Piscataquis, Franklin, Washington and Oxford, less than 40% are 16-39 years old.

Public health officials continue to emphasize the importance of vaccination, even if hesitation becomes hostile to some. The overwhelming majority of all new deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19 are due to unvaccinated individuals.

Northern Wright’s Jarvis said he hopes that the recent surge will lead to more vaccinations. He said he was concerned that the recent surge could lead to a slight increase in hospitalizations across the Northern Light Network, which could make things worse. He did not have the current number available on Tuesday, but said almost everyone hospitalized in the last few weeks had not been vaccinated.

Asked if he was dissatisfied with the direction the state and country were heading, Jarvis said.

“People always have the option of listening to advice, but when they see false information spreading, it really frustrates public health people,” he said.

This story will be updated.

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