Maine adds 47 COVID-19 deaths after review of vital records

Maine added 47 COVID-19 deaths to the state’s official count on Tuesday, while also reporting 452 new cases of the disease over a three-day period.

The addition of 47 deaths is almost certainly a result of a state review of death certificates over the past several weeks or months, and is not a one-day spike in deaths. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducts periodic reviews of death certificates to identify people who had the virus when they died of natural causes likely linked to the disease.

The Maine CDC does not report COVID-19 cases over the weekend, so Tuesday’s results reflect cases from Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Since the pandemic began, Maine has recorded 238,169 cases of COVID-19, and 2,269 deaths.

Hospitalizations had not yet been updated on Tuesday, but stood at 97 on Monday, with 24 in critical care and three on a ventilator.

Recent wastewater testing at various Maine sewage treatment plants is showing mixed results, with increases in virus prevalence in some areas, including a big jump in Bangor last week followed by a decline on Monday. Testing is typically conducted twice per week at most plants.

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Bangor’s virus prevalence – at 1.3 million copies of the virus per liter of sewage last week – was among the top 1 percent of sewer districts surveyed by Biobot. Biobot is a Massachusetts-based wastewater sampling company that contracts with various sewer districts in 41 states. On Monday, Bangor’s levels dropped to 865,000 copies.

Bangor’s virus levels are below what was seen in late January, when samples first started being reported to Biobot, and levels were at about 2 million copies per liter of sewage. But Bangor’s current COVID-19 wastewater levels are also much higher than mid to late March, when levels were at about 200,000 to 300,000 copies per liter.

Other plants are experiencing slight increases or flat levels, including Portland Water District plants in the East End and in Westbrook, and in Brunswick, Lewiston-Auburn and York. Decreases were reported in Belfast, Blue Hill and Près Isle.

This story will be updated.

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