PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The number of new coronavirus cases has ticked up in Maine in recent weeks, but state health officials say they aren’t sounding the alarm about it yet.
The state’s daily caseload had dwindled in early summer, with less than 20 new cases reported on some days in June and early July. That trend has reversed in mid-July as the coronavirus counts have ticked up all over the country.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Maine rose over the course of two weeks from less than 20 new cases a day July 7 to about 58 new cases a day on Wednesday. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Maine also rose over those two weeks from less than one death a day on July 7 to two a day Wednesday.
Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah told the Portland Press Herald the rate of increase is less in Maine than it is in much of the country. He said that was a “function of our very high vaccination rate.” About 68% of the state’s eligible population is fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
