Another 360 COVID-19 cases reported in Maine over 3-day period

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 360 new cases of COVID-19 over a three-day period on Tuesday.

The high figure reflects testing results reported on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. But Maine’s seven-day average continues to creep steadily upward, standing at 138 for the week that ended on Tuesday. That is roughly seven times higher than the state’s weekly average one month ago and is the highest level since late May.

There were no additional deaths reported on Tuesday. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the Maine CDC has tracked 71,666 confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 and reported at least 901 deaths linked to COVID-19.

The highly transmissible delta variant appears to be driving much of the new surge in Maine as it is across the country. In July, 86 percent of the 115 positive test results that were analyzed using genomic sequencing identified the delta variant as the strain of the coronavirus that caused the infection. Nationwide, the delta variant was identified in 93 percent of sequenced cases in late-July.

The number of outbreaks is also once again growing in Maine.

On Monday, Maine Medical Center reported that nine staff members in the Portland hospital’s emergency department had tested positive for COVID-19 since last week. The hospital said there have been no positive test results so far among patients who had close contact with the nine staff members.

Additionally, Waldo County General Hospital reported eight cases among staff at the Belfast facility. Both Maine Med and Waldo County General are part of the MaineHealth system, which is the state’s largest hospital and health care provider.

The Maine CDC was investigating a total of nine outbreaks — defined as three cases with an epidemiological link — as of Monday. There were no outbreaks under investigation in early July.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release new maps on Tuesday for Maine showing levels of community transmission in the state based on the latest case reports from the state. Those maps — which designate counties as having low, moderate, substantial or high levels of transmission — then form the basis for recommendations on where all individuals, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, should resume wearing masks indoors in public settings.

Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset, Washington and York counties all have substantial levels of transmission, based on Maine CDC case data updated Tuesday. Waldo and Piscataquis counties were experiencing high transmission rates.

Waldo County has emerged as the newest hotspot for COVID-19 cases in Maine, with new seven-day case rates that were four to five times higher than Cumberland and York counties.

At the same time, the state’s vaccination rate is also slowly climbing upward again after plateauing for several weeks.

On Monday, the Maine CDC reported that number of shots administered daily increased by 12 percent between July 30 and Sunday. But the 1,673 shots administered daily for the week ending on Sunday is a fraction of number of vaccine shots administered daily during the busiest times during the spring.

Maine currently has the third-highest vaccination rate in the nation — with 64 percent of all residents considered fully vaccinated — behind Vermont and Massachusetts, according to tracking by Bloomberg. On Monday, the Mills administration announced that more than 80 percent of Maine residents age 18 or older had received at least one shot of vaccine.

This story will be updated.