Maine health officials reported 547 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, another high daily total that comes as the state scrambles to continue vaccinations amid a drop-off in doses and the unexpected pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Four additional deaths were reported as well.
The seven-day daily case average stands at 385, which is up from 219 two weeks ago and from 176 this time last month, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The last time there were back-to-back days of at least 500 new cases was Jan. 21-22 during the post-holiday surge.
As has been the case for several days now, not all of the new cases reported Wednesday occurred in the last 24 hours. Staff at the CDC has been unable to verify and analyze all the positive tests that have been coming in on any given day.
Of the additional cases reported Tuesday, 103 were from positive test results on April 13, 180 were from positive test results reported from April 12, 74 were from April 11 and 154 were from April 10. The remaining 40 were from earlier dates that came from manual submission of test results, according to CDC spokesman Robert Long.
Still, there is no question cases have been increasing steadily for weeks now and that the surge has been driven largely by younger people who have not yet been vaccinated. Of the new cases Wednesday, 247 (or 45 percent) were among those under 30 and another 136 cases (25 percent) were people in their 30s. Just 13 new cases were detected in individuals 70 or older.
The state also has seen 64 “breakthrough” cases so far in people who have been vaccinated. These cases are to be expected since none of the vaccines are 100 percent effective. Only one of those has resulted in a death, and that person had other health factors that contributed to their death, Long said.
There have now been 55,374 confirmed or probable cases since the pandemic began and 757 people have died.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine increased slightly to 98 on Wednesday, including 33 in critical care and 13 on a ventilator. Totals haven’t been this high since early-to-mid February, a trend Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah called “concerning.”
Vaccinations, meanwhile, have slowed this week after record numbers of shots given last week. The decrease has been fueled both by fewer doses coming into the state and also by Tuesday’s decision by the U.S. CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to pause administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Maine administered 12,687 doses of vaccine on Tuesday and 13,324 doses the day before, according to the Maine CDC. Last week, after all Mainers 16 and older became eligible, the state posted three consecutive days of more than 20,000 shots in arms.
In all, Maine has administered 928,038 total doses. Of those, 529,261 have been first doses, representing just over 39 percent of the population, and 395,777 have been final doses, accounting for 29.4 percent of Mainers. Among residents age 70 or older, who are at highest risk of serious illness or death from the virus, nearly 79 percent have been fully vaccinated.
The decision to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was made after reports that six people — out of more than 7 million who received the one-dose vaccines — developed blood clots after getting vaccinated. All were in women between the ages of 18 and 48. One died.
Even as it called for a pause out of an abundance of caution, top public health experts said the risks remain exceedingly low, far lower than the risk of developing serious illness or dying from COVID-19. One of the biggest reasons for the brief pause was to let health care providers know to be on the lookout for any possible blood clots in patients who have had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and to ensure that those patients are treated properly.
The U.S. CDC said it will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. The FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases. The pause will last until that process is complete, but it’s expected to be days not weeks.
Maine’s supply of vaccines is not expected to increase next week. According to allotments posted Tuesday on the U.S. CDC website, Maine is eligible to receive 15,400 new doses of Moderna vaccine for next week and 21,060 doses of Pfizer. It will not receive any Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
That’s slightly more than 200 doses less than the amount Maine received this week. That doesn’t include separate allocations to retail pharmacies under a partnership with the federal government, although that total is likely to be lower as well because the majority of doses going to pharmacies in recent weeks have been Johnson & Johnson.
This story will be updated
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