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Maine reports 1,016 new coronavirus cases, 2 deaths on Saturday

Bradley Mattes, associate nurse leader at Central Maine Medical Center, questions patients at the emergency entrance to the hospital, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Lewiston, Maine. "I refer to myself as the Walmart greeter of nurses," said Mattes, who questions patients to determine if their symptoms indicate the need for testing for the coronavirus or other medical attention.
Robert F. Bukaty
/
AP
Bradley Mattes, associate nurse leader at Central Maine Medical Center, questions patients at the emergency entrance to the hospital, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Lewiston, Maine. "I refer to myself as the Walmart greeter of nurses," said Mattes, who questions patients to determine if their symptoms indicate the need for testing for the coronavirus or other medical attention.

The Maine CDC is reporting 1,016 new coronavirus cases on Friday. That's down from the record-breaking 2,148 cases reported on Friday.

Today’s report brings the seven-day case average to 983, the highest since the pandemic began. That number has continued to spike since the beginning of December.

2 more Mainers have died from the disease. There were 377 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Friday. 120 were in critical care and 60 were on ventilators.

This week, Gov. Janet Mills activated the Maine National Guard to help Maine Medical Center cope with the surge of patients. The Mills administration also called on the federal government, announcing on Thursday that 14 federal health care workers are coming to Maine to help Maine Medical Center. Maine hospitals say they are eager for reinforcements as they struggle to keep up with the surge of patients. Hospitals report the majority of their COVID patients are unvaccinated.