NORWAY — The pandemic roller coaster continues in Maine, two years after the coronavirus was first detected.

Just in the last seven days, Oxford County has reported 463 cases of COVID-19, according the Maine Center for Disease Control’s website.

The influx of hospitalizations throughout Maine has made it necessary to transfer regular patient rooms to COVID wards, causing potential peril to patients with other serious medical conditions and disruptions of both inpatient and outpatient procedures.

The Portland Press Herald reported over the weekend that Stephens Memorial Hospital’s emergency department was so overwhelmed by COVID that cars carrying the ill stretched through the parking lot because it had no capacity to admit new patients.

Dr. James Gallea, director of the Emergency Department at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, speaks with a patient in the hall of the ED on Thursday. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

Gov. Janet Mills has deployed dozens of National Guard to hospitals throughout the state, including SMH.

The Oxford Hills school district, which saw a lull in student quarantines following the Thanksgiving holiday is once again spiking due to exposures. As of Tuesday, Paris Elementary, Otisfield Community and Oxford Hills Middle schools accounted for 197 quarantined students and staff and 29 of the district’s 52 positive cases.

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Otisfield in particular was buckling: 69 of the school’s 116 students were reported to be in isolation. By Wednesday administrators moved to take all students to remote learning. The school is expected to reopen Jan. 5, following the Christmas break.

Otisfield Community School. Submitted photo

The delta variant of COVID has hospitals scrambling now but the threat of another, omicron, is on Maine’s threshold: cases have been reported in Massachusetts to the south and Quebec to the north, where the Canada/Maine border only recently reopened.

Vaccinations against COVID are on the increase as well, mostly in the form of booster shots. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for children between the ages of 5-11. Teens aged 16 and 17 were also added to the list of those eligible for boosters as of Dec. 9.

The Maine CDC reported that by Saturday almost 70% of Maine’s eligible population has been vaccinated and more than 370,000 have received boosters. But as positivity rates continue to climb and more seek protection from shot, demand for tests and appointments are following suite.

Oxford County vaccination rates lag behind other Maine counties; positivity rates in Oxford have exceeded 20% some days with no improvement in sight.

Vaccinations continue to be offered at retail pharmacies throughout Oxford Hills. Central Maine Healthcare is holding walk-in vaccination clinics at the Auburn Mall Tuesdays through Fridays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The Portland Press Herald has reported that 700 doses of the vaccine are being administered each day at the Auburn Mall.

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