State health officials reported a record 748 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, exceeding by more than 150 cases the previous maximum set last week.
More than 20,000 confirmed or probable cases have passed since the pandemic began tomorrow. Half of them came in a little over a month, as the state is experiencing sustained growth at the same time as vaccines are being administered.
Eight more deaths were reported on Wednesday, in addition to what was already the deadliest month. As of December, 82 people had died from COVID-19. The total number of deaths in March now stands at 311 and has doubled since the beginning of November.

A pedestrian is walking on Congress Street in late November. Ben McCanna / Staff Photographer
Hospitalizations were not updated Wednesday morning, but as of Tuesday, 185 people were in hospital with COVID-19, including 45 in critical care and 19 on a ventilator. Since March, exactly 1,000 people have been hospitalized with the virus at one time.
The director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Nirav Shah, is scheduled to brief the media Wednesday at 2 p.m.
The 7-day daily average was 461 on Wednesday, up from 205 a month ago and 34 two months ago. In 11 of the last 17 days, cases exceeded 400, including two days last week of 551 and 590 new cases. New cases were reported in every county in Maine, led by Cumberland County with 181, York County with 165 and Penobscot County with 90.
Two hospitals in Maineing are facing major outbreaks. York Hospital reported eight new positive cases among staff on Wednesday, bringing the total to 45 since the outbreak was discovered on December 6th. The outbreak also spread to 13 patients, three of whom died.
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor has had a total of 48 COVID-19 cases since Tuesday – 40 staff members and eight patients.
Cases have risen since Thanksgiving, raising fears that a new increase is possible after the Christmas break, even though state and federal health officials have pleaded with Americans not to travel.
Meanwhile, vaccines are slowly heading into Maine, giving a glimmer of hope as 2020 draws to a close. Front-line health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care institutions have started receiving either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, and additional doses come every week.
But there has also been some confusion about the order in which certain groups of people should be incarcerated as the state’s vaccination plan continues to evolve. An interim draft plan posted on Maine’s CDC website in October is now partially outdated, as health officials have since adopted multi-phase vaccination plans proposed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For example, the Maine CDC added residents of long-term care facilities to the first phase of its vaccination plan in response to federal guidance. In the latest adjustment, Shah said Monday that Maine will follow a federal advisory committee’s recommendation to include people 75 and older, as well as “essential” front-line workers in the next phase of vaccinations.
This means that tens of thousands of teachers, police officers, correctional officers, grocery store workers and postal employees could be eligible for vaccination as early as late January or early February if vaccine supplies and federal distributions keep up.
This story will be updated
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