Maine health officials report lowest daily case total in three weeks - Press Herald

Maine health officials reported 11 additional cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the lowest daily total in three weeks.

There have now been 3,975 cases in Maine, 3,548 confirmed by testing and 427 that are classified as probable. The number of active cases was 428 on Tuesday, 28 fewer than Monday.

A sign along 295 southbound in Bowdoinham encourages people to keep their distance in both their vehicles and on foot. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

No additional deaths were reported and the state revised it’s total down from Monday to indicate that 123 people have died with COVID-19 in Maine. Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention spokesman Robert Long explained that the death of a Cumberland County resident that originally was classified as related to COVID-19 does not meet the criteria to be a COVID-related death.

Periodically, the Maine CDC also adjusts its case data after investigating and determining that some were not COVID-19 or involved out-of-state residents.

The average number of new daily cases over the last 10 days is 22, compared to an average of 25 over the previous 10-day period. Cases peaked in Maine in late May, when the daily average topped 50. There was a slight spike in late June as well, when daily cases averaged near 40, but the numbers leveled off in July.

To date, more than 82 percent of all cases have come from Cumberland, York and Androscoggin counties.

Hospital visits and emergency room visits with flu-like symptoms — two metrics the state uses to assess its response — remain low as well. As of Monday, there were 12 people hospitalized, three in critical care. Since the pandemic began, 388 people have been hospitalized in Maine at some point.

Maine has the second-lowest positivity rate for COVID-19 in the country – Vermont has the lowest – based on the latest data from the Maine CDC. Maine’s seven-day average was 1.6 cases per 100,000 people, compared to more than 30 cases per 100,000 in hard-hit states like Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.

Despite the good news in Maine, there are some signs of concern. A hospital in Bar Harbor reported Monday that at least 35 out-of-state visitors carrying COVID-19 have been on the island this summer and could have spread the disease in the community.

Because of lengthy delays at the major national test processors, the people involved didn’t learn they had tested positive until they were already traveling in Maine.