Yesterday, Friday, June 26, 2020, at the Maine CDC briefing Dr. Nirav Shaw reported that as of that morning the new cumulative number of cases of COVID-19 among Maine residents had reached 3,102, with 32 new cases. This number was made up of 2758 confirmed (with either PCR or antibody testing), and 344 probable (symptomatic people with close contact to a confirmed case). Dr. Shaw noted that in that 24 hour period alone the state conducted 2,225 PCR tests, among them 39 positive. As there were 32 new cases among Mainers for that time period, one could reasonably conclude this meant 7 cases were among non-Mainers – more on that below.
However, and here is where a little confusion begins, I would note the numbers given in the Friday press briefing matched the data listed on the Maine CDC website for Thursday. Perhaps that morning’s data was not updated yet? Or, perhaps the data was not concluded. In the past, the data given during the briefing exactly matched the data on the website. Perhaps that has changed? I would also note though that the numbers given at the press briefings Monday, June 22, and the Wednesday, June 24 also did not match what was posted on the Maine CDC website for those dates (and he numbers did not represent the prior day values). I am using the website data for calculations in this article because it is integrated into CDC tabulations.
To that end, the data posted indicates Friday there were 3154 total cases (52 new cases), 2564 recoveries, 104 deaths among Maine residents. And, as of the time of writing this post on Saturday, June 27 the data indicates no new cases overnight. I would question that number as the prior week’s daily average number of new cases was 33 per day. Because of that question I have not included today’s numbers in the graphic at the top of this article. As always, if you cannot see the graphic in email form, please view this post on the website.
The number of active cases among Maine residents as of Friday was 486. This number reached a peak of 712 on May 26, and had dropped to 393 on June 23. Active cases are represented by the green line in the graphic above. Note that line is starting to trend up.
The state has started giving information about total testing on the CDC website, noting that among the 96,295 tests run to date, 3,787 were positive. If we subtract the total number of reported and probable cases as above (3,154) from this number we are left with 633 cases. This again could reasonably suggest 633 non-residents have tested positive in our state. This is especially relevant as we see more visitors and part-time residents returning with the good weather. I would think knowing how many out-of-staters have tested, and are currently testing positive in the state would be good information to help business owners, and all Mainers for that matter, calculate their own risk. Considered another way, if the actual number of positive tests to date is 3,787, then 633 unaccounted for people, presumably non-residents, is about 17% of the total. That is 1 in 6 positive tests, a lot of visitors.
Among the total number of cases reported at yesterday’s briefing 787 were among health care workers-25% of total cases reported. For the first time since reporting began Dr. Shaw gave information about recoveries among that group: 680. This leaves a total of 107 active (or possibly deceased-data not disclosed) cases among health care workers. There were 28 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in our state, 9 in ICUs, and 6 on ventilators-presumably on Thursday.
Finally, though there are executive orders, and compliance with physical distancing and facial covering is high, there are still some businesses around the state that do not require their employees to wear a mask. I encountered this twice yesterday when shopping for groceries and other necessities. I would suggest that if you encounter this situation you do as I did in both cases: leave. Do not shop with those businesses. This will protect your own health, and will send a message that you expect everyone to do their best to stop this pandemic. As I have discussed several times here, wearing a mask protects you and others from spread of COVID-19. Choosing not to wear a mask places others at risk.
