Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Maine remained at low levels this week, though slightly higher than last week.
The key metric, which typically trails exposure to the disease by one to three weeks, had steadily fallen for more than a month and has been at low levels since the end of May, even as the disease has surged to crisis levels across the Southern and Southwestern United States.
Maine Medical Center, which has handled nearly half the state’s coronavirus burden through most of the crisis, had an average of 4.6 confirmed COVID-19 inpatients each day for the week ending Thursday, up slightly from 3.7 last week, but far below its peak counts of 35 set on both April 7 and May 25.
Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston also saw an uptick in its COVID-19 patient count to an average of 3.4 a day, more than double last week’s figure of 1.5 per day. The city’s other hospital, St. Mary’s, had an average of 2.3 such patients per day, up from 0.14 per day, though it has none since Monday.
Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor also had an average of 2.3 patients a day, though the count trended downward during the course of the week. Last week, EMMC had an average of three patients a day.
Portland’s Mercy Hospital had just one inpatient on one day of the period, or an average of 0.14 a day, down from 1.1 the previous week, and 3.1 the week before that. York County’s largest hospital, Southern Maine Health Care Medical Center in Biddeford, had an average of 0.3 per day, up slightly from 0.14 the previous week.
The figure for MaineGeneral in Augusta was 0.6 patients a day, the same as last week, while at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick it was 0.9, down from one last week.
York Hospital in York hasn’t reported a COVID-19 inpatient since June 22.
Four smaller hospitals that had reported having patients during the month of June – Bridgton, Rumford, Waldo in Belfast and Franklin Memorial in Farmington – had none for the week.
Hospitalizations can end three ways: recovery, death, or transfer to another facility. The data do not include outpatients or inpatients who were suspected of having the virus but never tested.
The Press Herald’s survey is for the seven days ending July 30. It compiles data received directly from the hospitals and hospital networks. It includes most, but not all, of the state’s hospitals, but accounts for the vast majority of the statewide hospitalizations reported each week by the Maine CDC.
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