Another day, another record: 590 new COVID-19 cases in Maine - Press Herald

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State health officials reported 590 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and nine additional deaths, breaking the one-day case record set only a day earlier.

Since the pandemic reached Maine in March, there have been 17,901 confirmed or probable cases, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The 7-day average now stands at 436 cases, more than double what it was this time last month. Just two months ago, the average number of daily cases was only 30.

In yet another sign of how rapidly the virus has spread in recent weeks, the number of active cases (individuals who have not yet recovered or died with the virus) rose to 6,937 — almost three times the total one month ago. Put another way, 39 precent of Maine people who have had COVID-19 have it right now.

New cases were reported in every Maine county, led by Cumberland County with 152 cases and York County with 111. Even less populated counties, like Aroostook and Washington, are seeing unprecedented daily increases.

Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah said Wednesday that the state is “squarely seeing” the impact of gatherings over the Thanksgiving holiday, and he worried things could get much worse with Christmas a week away.

“If staying home, staying in your pod or in your bubble is something that’s available to you, that’s definitely the most helpful thing you can do this winter,” he said.

There have now been 276 deaths overall and 100 just in the last 30 days. So far in December, 59 people have died from COVID-19, which puts this month on pace for Maine’s deadliest. November saw the most COVID-19 deaths so far, 67 — more than the previous five months combined.

Of the nine deaths reported Thursday, five were in Oxford County. There was one each in Cumberland, York, Kennebec and Aroostook counties. Among all deaths so far, 235 individuals, or 85 percent, have been 70 or older.

Hospitalizations had not been updated Thursday morning, but as of Wednesday, 187 individuals in Maine were in the hospital with COVID-19, including 46 in critical care. In all, 958 people have been hospitalized at some point with the virus.

Last week, Gov. Janet Mills once again tightened the state’s mask requirement for public places — urging businesses to deny entry to anyone not wearing a face covering and to call police if necessary. Business owners who fail to enforce mask compliance could be charged with a Class E crime and fined up to $10,000.

But Mills also said she’s “running out of available public health tools to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” and hinted that more restrictions could be needed.

“If (these) targeted steps don’t work, more severe restrictions might be necessary, including reducing gathering limits as other states have done, or even business closures as some have done,” Mills said. “Those options are a last resort, and they are a last resort because they have such a devastating effect on people, their income and making them feel isolated.”

Maine is far from alone. Many other states are seeing their highest levels of cases, hospitalizations and deaths during the current sustained surge. In fact, Wednesday was the deadliest day of the pandemic in the United States thus far, with more than 3,600 deaths nationwide attributed to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. The total number is now over 300,000.

The number of new cases Wednesday, more than 247,000, and total hospitalizations, more than 113,000, also broke previous records set only days earlier.

Other states have imposed restrictions in response to the latest spike, including shutting down restaurants for in-person dining, instituting curfews and reducing the allowable limit for indoor gatherings. But some states, including California and Minnesota, are seeing businesses and patrons openly defy those orders.

The worst numbers of the pandemic come at the same time vaccines are slowly starting to be administered. Hospitals across the state began vaccinating front-line health care workers with the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday and nearly 1,000 people had been vaccinated as of late Thursday morning, according to the CDC.

By next week, another vaccine, produced by Moderna, could begin arriving in Maine once it receives emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but it will still be many months before enough people are vaccinated to see transmission start to slow.

This story will be updated.

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