FEMA has approved the governor’s request for a federal surge response team to assist at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
The administration of Governor Janet Mills announced Thursday that hospital staff at CMMC will be supplemented by up to 20 personnel beginning Feb. 1st through March 2nd.
That group includes physicians, nurses and respiratory technicians who will help to treat COVID-19 patients and others with serious medical issues.
The administration also says FEMA approved a 30-day extension for federal ambulance teams that are currently in the state, as well as a new team to help at Cary Medical Center in Caribou.
COVID hospitalizations in the state remain high, but have been declining in recent days. 400 patients were in Maine’s hospitals with the virus on Thursday, marking the fourth consecutive day of falling hospitalization numbers.
On Tuesday, the number of COVID patients in the ICU also fell below 100 for the first time since Dec. 1st and has continued to drop since then. As of Thursday, that number was 84.
The Maine CDC also reported 12 additional COVID deaths in Thursday’s update. Four of those date back to December and early January.
Health officials reported another 1,526 cases of the virus on Thursday. Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah says daily case counts are becoming less useful with the agency’s epidemiologists processing a backlog of positive test results that stood at about 56,000 as of Wednesday morning.
Dr. Shah says they’re looking into ways to automate the process of reviewing positive test results to alleviate the backlog.
