The Maine CDC has added five people to the state's COVID-19 death toll. The agency also added 1,207 cases of the disease on Saturday.
In the last seven days, an average of 863 cases were added per day — a decline from the week prior, when over 1,000 per day were added. But health officials warn the true number is higher, as CDC staff can't keep up with the deluge of lab results amid the omicron surge.
Mainers are also increasingly reliant on at-home test kits, the results of which are not reflected in the daily CDC totals.
As of Saturday, 429 Mainers were hospitalized with COVID-19. That number is rising again after a brief dip under 400 last week. One-hundred one of those patients were in critical care, and 55 on ventilators.