Cases of COVID-19 in Maine continue to surge, with the state CDC reporting 665 on Friday. That puts the seven-day average for daily cases at 373 — more than double what it was just a week and a half ago.
Hospitalizations remain high, and CDC Director Nirav Shah says limited capacity is affecting non-COVID patients.
"If you've got cancer, if you've got heart disease, we are starting to hear about and see access challenges for those individuals, not because of their own disease, but because hospitals are facing challenges with COVID," he says.
Shah says the situation is being driven largely by unvaccinated people, who account for 70-75% of hospitalizations.
