COVID-19 hospitalizations increase in Maine to near pandemic peak – Press Herald

Hospitalizations increased to near a pandemic peak on Wednesday as signs emerge that the omicron variant is taking over in Maine.

Maine is reporting 382 hospitalizations statewide on Wednesday, up from 373 on Tuesday and close to the pandemic high point of 387 on Dec. 21. On Wednesday, 117 COVID-19 patients were in critical care and 59 were on ventilators.

At MaineHealths NorDx laboratories, 45 positive cases sequenced did not detect the presence of the delta variant, which for months had been the dominant strain in the state, said MaineHealth spokesman John Porter on Tuesday. Because NorDx is set up to test for delta and not omicron, those samples will be sent to the Maine CDC labs to screen them for omicron.

Officially, omicron comprises 8.75 percent of positive samples sequenced by The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor for the Maine CDC, representing sequencing conducted Dec. 19-25. But with the lag in reporting and the variants exponential growth, scientists at The Jackson Laboratory say they expect omicron will soon be the dominant strain in Maine, if it isnt already.

Meanwhile,Maine is reporting 1,326 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, and 26 additional deaths.

Dr. Nirav Shah, Maine CDC director, is expected to brief the media at 2 p.m. today.

Since the pandemic began, Maine has logged 149,543 cases of COVID-19, and 1,582 deaths. The case count is increasingly becoming less reliable as a public health metric, experts say, because of the number of people taking at-home tests, which are not included in the case count.

On the vaccination front, 71.5 percent of Maines 1.3 million population are fully vaccinated, and 36 percent have received their booster shot.

Meanwhile, MaineHealth is opening a vaccination clinic this week at its offices 110 Free St., Portland. The clinic is by appointment only, with hours from noon-6 p.m. Wednesday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday. First and second dose appointments are available to anyone 5 and older, and booster shots are available for those 16 and older. The clinic has the Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines.

To schedule an appointment, go to vaccine.mainehealth.org.

Also, Northern Light Health has reopened its walk-in vaccination clinic at the former Pier One store at the Maine Mall in South Portland. Walk-ins can stop by for a vaccine from 1-7 p.m. on Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

This story will be updated.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations increase in Maine to near pandemic peak - Press Herald