© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Maine Reports 38 New Cases Of COVID-19, No Additional Deaths

Nick Woodward
/
Maine Public file
Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah at a coronavirus press briefing March 27, 2020 in Augusta, Maine.

Cases of COVID-19 in Maine grew to 1,603 overnight, as another 38 cases were diagnosed. The death toll remained unchanged at 69.

Twenty of the new cases were in Cumberland County, where nearly 800 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic arrived in the state. More than 440 of them have recovered.

Maine health officials say statewide, 993 people have recovered, 35 more than Thursday, and 211 have been hospitalized. Thirty-five of them remain in the hospital, 16 of them in critical care. Of those, eight are on ventilators.

At a briefing Friday in Augusta, Maine Center for Disease Control Director Dr. Nirav Shah said another outbreak of the disease has been detected at Durgin Pines, a nursing home in Kittery. Shah said there are three known cases at the facility, and the CDC is investigating and providing health guidance and support.

"Our team of epidemiologists is touching base with that facility to make sure they have all the public health guidance they need."

Shah said earlier outbreaks at two additional Maine congregate care facilities have subsided to the point where no new cases have been detected for longer than one 14-day incubation period. He said he would have more details about the facilities later.

Shah said Maine has received another shipment of remdesivir, an antiviral drug, that will allow for treatment of another 35 cases of COVID-19. He said the drug has already been distributed to Maine hospitals. This is the second shipment of remdesivir the state has received, and Shah said he was not sure whether any more would be coming.

The new tests that could triple Maine's testing capacity for COVID-19 are expected to be up and running by Monday. It was a little more than a week ago that Gov. Janet Millsannounced that Maine had entered into a partnership with IDEXX, the company that makes the tests. Shah said that the state lab has been working to bring the IDEXX tests online.

"I'll have much more to discuss on that topic on Monday, as well as the implications of that expanded capacity for our overall strategy and approach to testing statewide."

Shah has said that expanded testing will eliminate the state's priority system and allow health care providers to test anyone they suspect has COVID-19.

Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin joined Shah at the briefing to announce a coronavirus-related milestone of another kind. Makin said the department has secured internet connectivity for all Maine students who had none, either because of a lack of broadband or a shortage of home resources.

Makin said the pandemic exposed a "concerning inequity" among students that has had some teachers struggling to connect with students unable to fully access remote learning.

"Now, 100 percent of those students have been connected through this effort," Makin said.

Updated 5:25 p.m. May 15, 2020