Maine reported 29 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday and one new death, a continued rise in case numbers as the state maintains one of the lowest infection rates in the nation.
Maine’s cumulative cases rose to 4,144, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 3,726 have been confirmed by testing and 418 are considered probable cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
One hundred twenty-seven people have died with COVID-19 in Maine. A man from Androscoggin County in his 90s is the most recent death attributable to the virus, according to the CDC.
Subtracting the number of people who have recovered – 3,616 – and died, there were 401 active cases on Saturday.
Maine remains in good shape during the height of the tourist season when it comes to infection rates by population. On Thursday morning, the state briefly held the U.S.’s lowest case rate, at only 6 per 100,000. Vermont had snatched back the title by Friday evening.
In the first two weeks of August, Maine’s positivity rate for coronavirus testing was low, too, at about 2 percent. Only 11 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 around Maine as of Friday morning.
Still, local officials have reported challenges in enforcing social distancing regulations in an unusual place – on the water. The summer has brought large numbers of boats to Maine’s coast, along with reports of boats “rafting up,” or being tied together to form a floating party.
Some boaters also say they’ve seen parties of 40 or more people on private islands where social distancing hasn’t been observed. The Maine Marine Patrol says it has broken up a number of parties and educated boaters on how to stay safe.
County by county in Maine since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 575 cases in Androscoggin, 33 in Aroostook, 2,122 in Cumberland, 47 in Franklin, 40 in Hancock, 171 in Kennebec, 27 in Knox, 35 in Lincoln, 57 in Oxford, 170 in Penobscot, 11 in Piscataquis, 58 in Sagadahoc, 36 in Somerset, 62 in Waldo, 14 in Washington, and 684 in York.
By age, 9.7 percent of patients were under 20, while 16.2 percent were in their 20s, 15.5 percent were in their 30s, 14.7 percent were in their 40s, 16.3 percent were in their 50s, 11.5 percent were in their 60s, 8.1 percent were in their 70s, and 8 percent were 80 or over.
Women still are the slight majority of cases, at just under 52 percent.
Maine’s hospitals had only five patients with COVID-19 on Saturday, down from six on Friday. Of those patients, two were in intensive care and one was on a ventilator. There were 124 intensive care unit beds available of a total 399, and 257 ventilators available of 321. There were also 444 alternative ventilators across the state.
Around the world on Saturday, there were nearly 21.4 million known cases of COVID-19 and more than 764,000 deaths. The United States had more than 5.4 million cases and 171,000 deaths.
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