State health officials reported 37 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, continuing a trend of higher daily case numbers this week that can be tied to community spread in York County as well as increased testing.

In all, there have been 5,468 confirmed or probable cases since the coronavirus pandemic reached Maine in mid-March. There were no additional deaths reported Friday, leaving the number of people who have died with COVID-19 at 142 – 118 of whom have been in their 70s or 80s. The most recent death, reported Thursday, was a man in his 50s from York County.

Cases in Maine have been trending upward since early August but are still below the peak average number of cases the state saw in mid-to-late May. As of Friday, the seven-day average was 34 cases, up from the low-water mark of 14 cases on Aug. 12. The 59 cases reported Tuesday represented the highest single-day total since May 22.

Some of the recent increase can be traced to the 17 outbreaks under investigation in York County, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic in Maine, accounting for 40 percent of all new cases over the past two weeks. There have been outbreaks at social clubs like the Wolves Club, Lafayette Club and the Sanford American Legion, in addition to Calvary Baptist Church, Sanford Fire Department, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and others, but cases have spread to the community as well, including Sanford High School, which had to switch to all-remote learning.

Some of the increase also can be tied to expanded testing, which was up by 38 percent in September, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The state is now conducting 455 tests per 100,000 people, well above the national average of 250 per 100,000 people.

“Some of the increase we are seeing is a function of increased testing,” Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, said Thursday. “We are capturing cases that otherwise (previously) would have been left undiagnosed.”

Nevertheless, Maine’s positivity rate remains low. The seven-day weighted average Friday was o.57 percent.

Outside of York County, some areas that had largely avoided COVID-19 have lately seen significant increases. Oxford County saw its number of cases jump from from 97 on Sept. 16 to 152 on Sept. 30, an increase of 57 percent. Oxford County is the site of the ND Paper outbreak in Rumford, which has so far sickened 24.

Gov. Janet Mills on Friday released an update of the state’s color-coded Health Advisory System that classifies counties’ relative risk of COVID-19 transmission, which is used to assist school districts.

There were no changes from the previous advisory – York County and Oxford County remain yellow, which indicates an increased level of community risk. All other countries are designated as green, which means risk is generally low but not nonexistent. Androscoggin County is being monitored closely.

Numerous schools across Maine have reported cases of COVID-19 since students started returning last month. A Maine Department of Education spokeswoman said this week that the agency will soon report all school outbreak information in the state on one website.

The University of Maine System reported two new cases Friday, both students who live off campus and attend the university at Orono. The system has a total of five cases, including one additional case at Orono and one case each at campuses in Augusta and Farmington.

Despite the increase in cases, hospitalizations have dropped steadily since peaking in late May. As of Friday, 11 people were hospitalized, including two in critical care. Since the pandemic began, 452 people have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19.

The number of cases nationwide has eclipsed 7 million and the number of COVID-19 related deaths has topped 205,000.

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