3 more Mainers die as 665 coronavirus cases reported across the state

By Lynn Fort, Bangor Daily News Staff

Three more Mainers have died as health officials on Friday reported another 665 coronavirus cases. It is the largest single-day increase in months, following yesterday’s large increase.

Friday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 77,578, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 76,913 on Thursday. 

Of those, 55,815 have been confirmed positive, while 21,763 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

With three more Mainers succumbing to the virus, the death toll for the state is now 940.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 4,124. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. That’s up from 3,644 on Thursday.

The new case rate statewide Friday was 4.97 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was XX.

Maine’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 372.3, up from 315.9 a day ago, up from 245.4 a week ago and up from 101.4 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Friday was 17.38 patients per 10,000 residents.

So far, 2,326 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. 

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (8,857), Aroostook (2,551), Cumberland (18,583), Franklin (1,539), Hancock (1,702), Kennebec (7,234), Knox (1,368), Lincoln (1,248), Oxford (3,926), Penobscot (7,924), Piscataquis (811), Sagadahoc (1,587), Somerset (2,691), Waldo (1,597), Washington (1,084) and York (14,875) counties. Information about where an additional case was reported wasn’t immediately available.

As of Thursday, 847,263 Mainers were fully vaccinated, or about 71.6 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC. 

As of Friday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 39,552,739 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 643,702 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.