Maine on Monday reported 376 new cases of COVID-19 and another death.
The number of new cases has been slightly lower over the past three days compared to last week – with cases less than 400 compared to the 500s or 700s – but it was not immediately clear whether Maine was still behind in reporting cases. keep up with the New Year’s holiday. The first two days after Christmas, Maine reported small numbers, but the daily number of cases jumped after that when labs caught up.
Maine’s daily COVID-19 case numbers surpass summer and early fall, when the state experiences about 30 new cases a day in the country. Overall, Maine had 25,968 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 360 deaths.
Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, will address the media today at 2 p.m. He said on the radio in Maine Public this morning that Maine seems to have reached a ‘high plateau’ recently, although he warned that this may still change.
“I have reasons for hope and optimism,” Shah said of the growing supply of vaccines in the winter and spring and a possible end to the pandemic later this year.
The average of seven days of daily new cases stood at 521.3 on Monday, compared to 433.4 a week ago and 225.6 a month ago.
Vaccines are still starting to roll in, with 33,425 people receiving the first dose of the vaccine. The first people to be vaccinated in Maine are health care workers, staff and residents of nursing homes and paramedics. Maine is expected to receive 17,075 doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines this week, bringing the total number of doses sent to Maine to more than 81,000.
75 and older – about 107,000 of Maine’s 1.3 million residents – wonder when they will receive a vaccine. They are currently being included in Phase 1B, at the same time as essential workers, but there is no fixed timing on when they will be vaccinated or exactly how the rollout will take place for that age group. Elderly patients are most vulnerable to COVID-19 deaths, with approximately 85 percent of deaths under the age of 70 or older.
“A lot of people want to know where they are on the list, but unfortunately there is no list because grids are still in the air,” said dr. James Jarvis, Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, in an interview published Sunday.
Shah said the state is considering changing its plan to increase the rankings of vaccinations higher and higher. From now on, there will be a rough estimate on when older Mainers can start immunizing, at the end of January or February.
Some seniors have criticized the Mills government for placing elderly Mainers in the same spot in the vaccines as essential workers, such as clerks in grocery stores.
Shah told the Maine Public on Monday that essential workers – such as clerks in the grocery store and police officers – interact with the public and represent a large percentage of people who have contracted COVID-19. But protecting the elderly is also very important, so the state is considering the next steps.
Shah said how many doses the state will receive in the next few weeks and months will largely determine what can be done.
This story will be updated.
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