Maine’s COVID-19 infections continue to climb as virus spreads among the unvaccinated

Maine on Wednesday reported 882 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths, signaling that the state’s infection rate is on the rise again due to transmission among unvaccinated people.

And two hospitals serving parts of the state with lower vaccination rates have seen the number of patients with the virus surge in recent days to the highest levels since the start of the pandemic.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention also reported on Wednesday that 3,189 children aged 5 to 11 had received their first dose, an increase of 1,171 from Tuesday. Age group became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine last week, and schools, public health officials and pediatricians are rushing to administer the two-dose regimen to as many schoolchildren as possible by mid-December, before the start of the school holidays.

Maine CDC director Dr Nirav Shah told a press conference on Wednesday that he expects the number of clinics offered to schoolchildren to increase over the next two weeks. And the rollout comes as the overall pace of vaccinations in Maine has increased 40% over the past two weeks, to about 7,300 per day, Shah said.

“We are starting the pediatric vaccination with the wind at our back,” Shah said. As more and more children – and hopefully their parents as well – are vaccinated, it will “create more epidemiological barriers” to prevent the spread of the virus, he said.

As the state increases vaccinations, the pandemic intensifies in Maine.

The seven-day average of new daily cases stood at 546.9 on Wednesday, up from 473.4 a week ago and 498.7 a month ago. The peak in Maine so far during the fall wave was around 600 cases per day in early October.

Nationally, the seven-day average of daily new cases has increased from about 71,000 a week ago to about 73,000 today. But the 73,000 cases remain below a peak in early September of around 180,000 cases per day.

Maine has the 18th highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita in the United States, with 38.1 cases per 100,000 population, over an average of seven days, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute. As of Wednesday, the national average was 23 cases per 100,000 population.

VULNERABLE RURAL ZONES

Shah said that while the state’s immunization rate holds up well compared to other states, the uneven immunization rates and the fact that rural Maine has been largely spared during previous peaks of the pandemic means that there are many pockets of the state where the most contagious delta variant can easily transmit.

The gap between the most vaccinated and the least vaccinated county is around 20 percentage points, with 80 percent of the population vaccinated in Cumberland County and 60 percent in Piscataquis County.

“What you actually get is gasoline on fire,” Shah said.

The unvaccinated represent 86% of all COVID-19 cases since vaccines became widely available this spring, and about two-thirds of all hospital patients, according to state data.

Of those who were vaccinated, 99% did not contract COVID-19, Shah said. At the community level, Cumberland County may be the closest to reducing transmission. Once pediatric vaccinations are over this winter, the county could shut down 90 percent of its immune population.

Shah said cooler, drier weather may also contribute to the current outbreak by making it easier to transmit the virus and forcing people to spend more time indoors where the virus also spreads more easily.

Hospitalizations increased statewide as of Wednesday, with 225 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine, including 69 in intensive care and 29 on ventilators. About two-thirds of people sick enough to be hospitalized have not been fully immunized, according to hospitals and state officials.

Dr James Jarvis, COVID-19 incident commander for Northern Light Health, the parent entity of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and Mercy Hospital in Portland, said hospitalizations remain a concern, with hospitals serving large numbers of COVID-19 patients in rural Maine.

Jarvis said “if we let our guard down” by not vaccinating and refusing to take public health precautions, such as wearing masks indoors, “we are having a difficult winter.”

CASE POINTS IN TWO HPITAUX

Hospitalizations reached all-time highs this week at two hospitals: Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth.

At the CMMC, the average daily number of confirmed COVID-19 hospital patients stood at 21.6 for the five days ending Tuesday, the highest level since the start of the pandemic and up from an average of 19 , 6 a day last week. The hospital’s previous record of 250 beds was 20.4 per day set in early May.

The spike at CMMC is likely due to declining vaccination rates in the counties served by the hospital – Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin – according to Dr. John Alexander, chief medical officer of CMMC’s parent entity, Central Maine Healthcare.

“Between 50 and 70% of our hospital patients are not vaccinated against COVID-19,” Alexander said. “Although our region has a large proportion of unvaccinated residents, many daily activities such as shopping and school attendance are returning to normal. This is the very reason we continue to ask our communities to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and, if you have been vaccinated before, to receive the booster once you are eligible. “

Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth is also experiencing its worst COVID-19 burden of the pandemic with an average of 8.3 inpatients per day for the six days ending Wednesday, up from the previous record of 4.9 per day set the last week. Until October, the 166-bed hospital had never seen a figure above 3.6, set during the outbreak last winter.

A spokesperson for Northern Light Health, the hospital’s parent entity, said the spike there was due to low vaccination rates in Hancock County coupled with transmission among migrant workers.

Since the start of the pandemic, Maine has recorded 109,592 cases of COVID-19 and 1,217 deaths.

Pediatric injections have been offered primarily through pharmacies and free-standing community clinics coordinated by health systems such as MaineHealth, Northern Light Health and InterMed. But school clinics will soon be firing “shots.”

Dr Dora Anne Mills, head of health improvement at MaineHealth, said the health system provides for dozens of school-based clinics. Mills said most clinics haven’t started this week because they need time to plan and educate parents on what to expect and answer questions about the vaccine. A Zoom meeting on MaineHealth’s upcoming clinic on November 17 at Great Falls Elementary School in Gorham brought together more than 170 parents.

“It’s going to be a lot bigger next week,” Mills said. “These clinics are the way to get our children vaccinated as effectively as possible. “

Northern Light Health hosts clinics in 18 school districts, mostly in southern Maine, said Andrew Soucier, a spokesperson for Northern Light. The Penobscot Community Health Center will organize school clinics in the Bangor area, he said.

While most clinics start next week, Schools in Scarborough are running a series of clinics for children ages 5 to 11 this week.

Shah hopes that vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 will increase vaccination rates in adults.

“If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, now is a great time to get vaccinated, maybe with your children,” he said.

Editor Colin Woodard contributed to this report.

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