The case count in a Waldo County COVID-19 outbreak has now reached 49 and is expected to grow.
Cases connected to the outbreak have spread from a fellowship event at the Brooks Pentecostal Church to an assisted living facility in Searsport and three public schools.
Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah says a suspected case at a fourth school, Troy Howard Middle School, was found to be negative. He says there hasn’t been any transmission of the virus within the schools themselves.
“There are no outbreaks of COVID-19 in any of those schools,” he says.
Three people linked to the outbreak are hospitalized. Individuals from several other churches attended the fellowship event, and the CDC says one of them has tested positive.
Thirty-seven new cases of COVID-19 are being reported by the Maine CDC on Thursday. Of those, six are in Washington County.
Shah says the CDC is investigating whether the cases are linked.
"Hopefully over the next couple of days we'll have a better sense of whether this happens to be an uptick related to the virus being everywhere, or whether it happens to be transmission that may have occurred as part of a gathering," he says.
The number of deaths has remained unchanged for several days, at 146.
There are 649 active cases in the state.
