coronavirus

The suit was filed against the Mills Administration in 2021 by seven health care workers who say they should have been granted religious exemptions from getting the COVID vaccine.

There are currently 92 people hospitalized with the disease, the first time the number has dipped into the low 90s since last April.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow the hospital system's research arm to study what causes long COVID. It is a condition that occurs when symptoms of the virus continue after a person is no longer contagious. Typical symptoms have included brain fog and loss of smell and taste.

FEMA announced Monday that it's awarding nearly $2.7 million to the Mills administration for purchasing PPE for state employees, and nearly $3.7 million to Maine Medical Center for the cost of testing staff for COVID and for hiring temporary employees.

The system says it will strongly encourage vaccination and boosters, but no longer make them a requirement for in-person students.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Maine have been ticking up, as have the number of patients in critical care.

The system announced on Wednesday that its board of trustees unanimously voted to remove a vaccination mandate, and instead will "strongly encourage" students to get the vaccine.

Vaccination rates for the newest bivalent booster among nursing home staff in Maine are lagging behind the residents they care for and the population at large, according to federal data, as the state endures its third pandemic winter.

The CDC says that between Dec. 18 and Dec. 24 more than half of all COVID cases in New England were caused by the XBB variant.

The two largest hospital systems in Maine are grappling with capacity issues as several viruses are circulating in communities.