After several days with few or no reported deaths in Maine related to COVID-19, the state CDC is reporting 10 on Thursday.
On the daily Maine Calling program, agency director Nirav Shah said seven of those 10 deaths date back to March and were added after a review of death certificates.
Shah also said that the Maine CDC is actively searching for COVID-19 variants as the state enters prime tourist season.
He worries that variants could be imported into the state, or that they could be "generated here within the state, as has happened in southern California and New York City. That same thing can happen here, unless we vaccinate as many people as possible and shut off the possibility of the virus to run."
More than 500 cases of variants have been detected so far in Maine.
The vast majority are the newly-named 'Alpha' variant that originated in the UK, followed by dozens of cases of the 'Gamma' variant from Brazil and four each of the 'Beta' variant from South Africa and the new variant from India, named 'Delta'.
Daily new coronavirus cases increased on Thursday — to 106 — but the seven day average continues to decline and currently stands at 81.
Hospitalizations are also going down, with 79 people receiving in-patient care and 17 on ventilators.
The Maine CDC’s next briefing on the pandemic is scheduled for 2 p.m. next Wednesday. Maine Public will bring that to you live.
