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Two More People Die, 715 New Infections Reported As COVID-19 Keeps Surging In Maine

In this March 2, 2021, file photo, Darmita Wilson, left, takes the temperature of a volunteer arriving to help at a COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the Portland Expo in Portland, Maine.
Robert F. Bukaty
/
AP
In this March 2, 2021, file photo, Darmita Wilson, left, takes the temperature of a volunteer arriving to help at a COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the Portland Expo in Portland, Maine.

The number of COVID-19 cases detected in Maine is continuing its steep climb on Friday.

The state CDC is reporting another 715 infections, and the seven-day average of new cases now stands at 485, its highest point since last January.

Two more people have died with COVID-19.

The state is now working through a backlog of old test results, and many of the newly announced positive cases were actually detected a week ago.

The delta variant continues to drive the late summer spike in cases.

Hospitals around the state continue to treat some of the most COVID-19 patients of any point in the pandemic.

The latest figures from the Maine CDC, released Friday, show 201 people are hospitalized. More than a third of those patients are in critical care, and 34 are on ventilators.