PORTLAND, Maine (WGAN) Covid-19 hospitalizations have spiked to record levels in Maine.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that 248 patients were hospitalized with the virus in Maine’s hospitals. That easily surpasses the state’s previous record of 235 patients set in late September.
Friday’s report said 72 patients were in critical care beds and 31 of them were on ventilators. 49 critical care beds were still available across the state.
New cases weren’t reported by the state on Friday because Thursday was Veteran’s Day, a federal and state holiday, but the 7-day average of new daily cases stood at 472 on Thursday.
Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Wednesday that Mainers can expect high case counts to continue in the near future. Despite the state’s high vaccination rate, Shah says there are still significant disparities between the counties with the highest and lowest rates, and that’s likely driving the state’s higher daily case numbers.
On top of the more transmissible delta variant, he also says some rural areas may have been insulated from the virus earlier on, and have lower levels of natural immunity to fend it off now that it’s in those communities.
70% of all Maine residents are vaccinated against the virus. Since children ages 5-11 became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine last week, more than 5,000 Maine kids in that age group had been vaccinated as of Thursday’s update.
