Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah says Maine is on a better trajectory with COVID-19 than it was a few weeks ago.
The state CDC reported 139 people in the hospital with the disease on Wednesday. That's down almost 100 from the most recent peak that Maine saw earlier this spring. Nineteen patients are in critical care and five are on ventilators.
Speaking on Maine Calling Wednesday, Shah said that will likely change.
"COVID is not going away, and so this ebb and flow pattern is something that is likely to be with us for quite some time," he said.
The Maine CDC reported 18 additional deaths related to COVID-19, which brings the total over the course of the pandemic to 2,400.
Five hundred and fifty-seven new infections have been confirmed through laboratory testing, but the jump is probably higher since many cases are being confirmed with at-home tests.
