State reports 1,555 more cases of COVID-19, three more deaths

Maine health officials on Thursday reported 1,555 new cases of COVID-19, continuing a steady increase in new transmission of the omicron variant that is adding pressure to health systems and creating disruption for schools and employers alike. across the state.

Three more deaths have also been reported.

With the new cases, the seven-day average has risen to 1,037, from an average of 727 cases two weeks ago. The number of new cases reported each day no longer necessarily reflects the big picture, as many of them come from tests submitted a few days earlier and because there is a large backlog of tests to deal with. Additionally, many people can test positive with home tests, and those results aren’t necessarily reported to state officials.

But there is no doubt that the transmission is more widespread than ever. Maine CDC Director Dr Nirav Shah said on Wednesday that the state’s seven-day positivity rate rose to 19.76%, the highest in the pandemic. This means that about one in five ongoing PCR tests come back positive. The state also processes more tests than at any other point, 825 per 100,000 population.

Hospitalizations had not been updated Thursday morning, but Wednesday’s total of 413 COVID-19 patients also set a new pandemic high. Of these, 106 were in intensive care and 57 on ventilators. Amid the recent surge in hospitalizations, the number of people requiring intensive care has remained stable.

The CDC said the percentage of hospital patients with COVID-19 who are not vaccinated has hovered around 70% for several weeks. The percentage of unvaccinated intensive care patients is even higher. The disparity between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated patients is even more glaring when you consider that the entire population of unvaccinated residents of Maine represents less than half of the number of fully vaccinated people.

The increase in the number of patients in hospitals, coupled with the high number of workers who are themselves sick with COVID-19, prompted Governor Janet Mills this week to activate 169 members of the Maine National Guard to help hospitals . Details on where these members will be directed and when have not yet been released, but the goal is for members of the guard to assist in non-clinical roles that will help vacate beds faster.

Hospitals are increasingly forced to be more creative with their staff.

Northern Light Health, one of the state’s largest hospital systems, on Wednesday moved five of its smaller, more rural hospitals to emergency staffing plans. which reduced the quarantine period from 10 to five days. This decision was made because Northern Light reported that more than 600 employees were ill.

In another sign that Maine is struggling to keep pace with the rapid spread of omicron, the Education Department said on Wednesday that schools would no longer be required to trace contacts for positive cases, provided that the schools have a universal mask policy.

Shah explained that the decision was made after many school officials reported that the contact tracing process was getting too cumbersome and not very efficient.

“Trying to catch omicron through contact tracing is like trying to catch a bullet train on a bicycle,” he said.

Some schools switched to distance learning this week because too many staff were sick.

Driven by the incredibly transmissible omicron variant, cases are skyrocketing across the country to their highest pandemic level. According to the US CDC, the seven-day average for cases is around 760,000, a staggering 170% increase from just two weeks earlier. Hospitalizations are also at their highest level in the United States – 124,163 over an average of seven days, up from 67,883 COVID-19 patients two weeks earlier.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 158,087 confirmed or probable cases and 1,626 deaths in Maine, according to the CDC. Both remain among the lowest per capita of any state.

While the current outbreak is unprecedented, signs are emerging that it may be short-lived. In some large metropolitan areas that experienced an increase in the number of omicron cases before Maine, such as New York and Boston, cases are declining almost as quickly as they have increased. This trend has also manifested itself in other countries.

Shah said Wednesday that Maine was generally behind Greater Boston by about a week in “epidemiological time.”

This story will be updated

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