Maine’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and case counts are holding steady as health officials watch for a potential uptick resulting from the newest strain of the virus.
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID dropped slightly to 136 as of Wednesday morning, including 18 in critical care and three on ventilators, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down from 141 on Monday and from 231 patients on May 17.
The Maine CDC also reported 358 new cases on Wednesday. That’s an increase from the seven-day average, which stands at 242 new cases per day, down from more than 800 new cases a day in early May. The state also reported one additional COVID-related death.
Highly contagious omicron subvariants now account for the vast majority of cases in Maine and the CDC reported Monday that a new faster spreading strain, BA.4, was detected in the latest round of samples from infected residents.
BA.4 and BA.5 have caused increased infection rates in other parts of the world and some experts expect them to quickly spread through the United States and fuel another uptick in cases. The two closely related subvariants now account for roughly 20 percent of cases in the U.S., according to the latest federal data.
However, the newest strains do not appear to cause more severe symptoms than the other subvariants in circulation, so hospital patient counts are not expected to rise significantly.
The newest strains of the virus are able to infect people with some levels of immunity from previous infections or vaccinations, but health experts say staying up to date with vaccinations and booster shots still provides the best protection from infection and severe illness. An unvaccinated person is 19 times more likely to die from the disease than someone who has been vaccinated, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC.
Maine continues to have one of the lowest infection rates in the country after briefly becoming the nation’s No. 1 hotspot last month.
Maine recorded 122 new infections per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, compared to a national rate of 224. Hawaii, Florida and California have the highest infections rates.
Since the pandemic began, the state has recorded 266,933 cases and 2,406 deaths.
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