A total of 19 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in Lincoln County residents in the past week, up from 16 last week. LincolnHealth’s number of tests performed and its positivity rate have both crept up in the past two weeks.
“We certainly will be watching this trend. After four weeks of downward trending in the positivity rate, we’ve seen two weeks of increases,” John Martins, spokesperson for LincolnHealth, said by email on Tuesday, March 23.
Beginning Tuesday, March 23, all Maine residents age 50 and older are now eligible to receive a vaccine. Martins said that people can register by calling 1-877-780-7545, visiting vaccine.mainehealth.org, or talking to their primary care physician.
“Since the registration system is a first-in, first-out system, people should register as soon as they are able,” Martins wrote.
Martins said that the vaccination clinic at the Boothbay Region YMCA’s Marylouise Tandy Cowan Fieldhouse in Boothbay Harbor has been allotted 1,392 doses for the week and all appointment slots are filled.
Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Tuesday, March 23 that those who need help scheduling a vaccination appointment can call a community vaccination line at 1-888-445-4111.
LincolnHealth conducted 404 COVID-19 tests in the period from March 15-21 with a positivity rate of 3.47%, the highest it has been since the beginning of February.
The state’s swab-and-send site on LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta offers drive-up testing by appointment from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday and Thursday. To make an appointment, call the clinic at 563-4353.
According to Maine CDC data current as of Tuesday, March 23, since COVID-19 arrived in Lincoln County in mid-March 2020, 632 residents have had the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus — 544 confirmed cases and 88 probable.
Since the agency is no longer actively tracking “completed isolations,” an estimate of the number of people currently sick with COVID-19 in Lincoln County can be made using the total number of new cases reported in the past two weeks, 35.
Lincoln County has the second-lowest total case count and the third-lowest case rate in the state, after Hancock and Waldo counties, at 184 per 10,000 people.
One more Lincoln County resident has been hospitalized with COVID-19, for a total of 18.
According to a database maintained by the Maine CDC, vaccine appointments can also be requested at Hannaford in Damariscotta and Walgreens locations in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor. Appointments are also available at Walmart locations located outside Lincoln County.
To schedule an appointment at Hannaford, go to hannaford.com/pharmacy/covid-19-vaccine.
To schedule an appointment at Walgreens, go to walgreens.com/schedulevaccine.
According to Maine CDC data current as of Tuesday, Lincoln County has a “high” rate of doses administered per 100,000 residents relative to other counties in the state at 53,869.03.
The latest census data for Lincoln County lists a population of 34,634. Of those residents, 11,770, or 33.98%, have received their first dose of the vaccine and 6,887, or 19.89%, have received the second and final dose, according to the agency’s data. A total of 18,657 doses of vaccine have been administered.
According to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, the seven-day average positivity rate for Maine is 1.03%, down from 2.1% last week.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the seven-day average positivity rate as of March 11 is 4.2%, up from 4.1% last week.
State COVID-19 numbers
According to data current as of Tuesday, the Maine CDC has reported 48,972 COVID-19 cases in Maine, an increase of 1,489 from the week before. Of those cases, 11,140 are probable.
There have been 1,644 hospitalizations and 12,931 people have completed isolation. There have been 731 deaths so far from COVID-19 in Maine, including six in the last week. The statewide case rate is 365.9 per 10,000 people, up from 354.8 last week.
The number of new cases identified in the past two weeks is 2,718.
