The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine dropped slightly Wednesday but remains near a three-month high as the state continues to experience a surge of new infections.
There were 225 hospitalized patients as of Wednesday morning. The number reached 231 on Tuesday, the highest count since mid-February. While overall patient counts have more than doubled in recent weeks, the number of critically ill patients has remained stable. As of Wednesday, 34 patients were in critical care and two were on ventilators.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention also reported 812 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and one additional death. The seven-day average of new cases increased to 615.
Maine’s infection had been the highest in the nation this month, but dropped to the 10th-highest among all states on Wednesday. Maine recorded 316 cases for every 100,000 residents over the past seven days, compared to a nationwide infection rate of 199 cases per 100,000 people.
Official case counts are one way to measure whether virus transmission is speeding up or slowing down, but they undercount actual infections because so many people now rely on at-home tests that are not included in official counts.
Since the pandemic began, Maine has recorded 256,958 cases and 2,337 deaths.
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