The daily total just barely breaks a four-day streak of new cases over 200. The seven-day average is 198.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 197 cases of the novel coronavirus, and no new deaths, breaking a four-day streak of caseloads over 200. Maine health officials last week reported the first known case of a COVID-19 variant from Brazil, though since the patient hadn’t traveled, it’s likely already spreading in the community. Meanwhile, the Maine CDC launched its first statewide vaccination registry, drawing 30,000 signups in just a few days. Maine’s cumulative COVID-19 cases rose to 49,653 on Sunday. Of those,38,221 have been confirmed by testing and 11,432 are considered probable cases of COVID-19. The seven-day average of new daily cases was 198 on Sunday. Seven hundred thirty-six people have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in Maine. A Franklin County resident was the first in Maine to have a Braziliant variant of COVID-19 that’s known for resistance to antibodies, meaning people who have already had the disease could be reinfected. The CDC reported Friday that it had also detected 15 cases of the variant known as B.1.1.7, first found in the United Kingdom, and four cases of the variant B.1.351, from South Africa. Earlier in the week, a “soft launch” of Maine’s new statewide vaccine registration system drew tens of thousands of applicants in days. The system won’t replace medical providers’ existing registration protocols, though some providers say they’ll switch over. As Maine works to achieve herd immunity among its population of 1.3 million, a threshold whose lower limit is around 70 percent, outreach efforts have begun toward the state’s immigrant population.
