Maine is reporting another big jump in COVID-19 cases today.
The state CDC is reporting 1,008 new infections since the end of last week. Those numbers include updated case data from Sunday and Monday, which health officials don't usually report because they take the weekends off.
The seven-day average of new cases is now 522. That's it's highest point since the middle of last winter's big surge.
The state is also reporting nine new deaths of people with COVID-19.
The highly contagious delta variant is driving the current spike in infections, primarily in communities with lower vaccination rates.
Record numbers of patients are now being sent to the hospital. On Monday, 225 Mainers were hospitalized with COVID-19. Seventy were in critical care and 33 were on ventilators.
