LincolnHealth continues to address capacity challenges and is seeking to expand its booster clinic, according to an email from LincolnHealth spokesperson John Martins.
Hospitals continue to have few beds available statewide and throughout the MaineHealth system.
“We continue to have daily ‘capacity’ calls to assess the system’s ability to take new patients. We have accepted some patients from other MaineHealth system hospitals over the last few weeks when we’ve had beds available,” Martins said.
The hospital hired some staff at Cove’s Edge Nursing Facility, and that has helped free up beds at certain times, according to Martins.
With all individuals over age 18 eligible for the vaccine booster, LincolnHealth will continue to keep the current schedule, but it is looking to add more testing stations at the clinic to do more boosters each day.
Anticipating a positive case spike similar to the one that followed last year’s Thanksgiving, Timothy Fox, MD, LincolnHealth’s chief medical officer, recommended that family gatherings be kept small and that all in-person attendees be vaccinated and practice personal hygiene and distancing.
On Nov. 2, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11. Pfizer’s vaccine for children is available in a two-dose series, and is administered in a lower dose than the vaccine for adolescents and adults. Just like adults, doses will be administered 21 days apart.
In addition to school clinics, LincolnHealth will be offering a clinic from 8 a.m. to noon at Lincoln Medical Partners primary care in Damariscotta the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, for parents who may want to be present when their child is vaccinated.
To make an appointment for a child at the Watson Center, call 633-1934.
LincolnHealth finished its second week of vaccination for ages 5-11 in schools last week, and is continuing to provide booster shots Monday through Friday in the Watson Health Center. Boosters are available by appointment only. Appointments can be made at vaccine.mainehealth.org or by calling 877-780-7545. Those registering will need to provide the date of their final COVID-19 shot.
Anyone age 18 and up can receive a booster. Those who received a Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are eligible for a booster shot six months after their initial series. Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, booster shots are also recommended for those who were vaccinated two or more months ago.
During the week of Nov. 15-21, LincolnHealth tested 746 individuals for COVID-19 with 79 positive results, for a positivity rate of 10.1%. This follows a spike the week prior, in which LincolnHealth saw its highest one-week positivity rate, 12.1%.
The number of “breakthrough cases” in fully vaccinated individuals dropped to 28, 35% of the total positive cases; this represents a decrease from 40 vaccinated cases at 54% of the total cases.
Last week, 25 of the positive results were in people under 18 years of age, up from 15 the week prior.
According to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data current as of Nov. 23, since COVID-19 arrived in Lincoln County in March 2020, 2,091 residents have had the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus — 1,719 confirmed cases and 372 probable.
There have been no deaths in Lincoln County related to COVID-19 in the last week, leaving the total at eight COVID-19-related deaths since March 2020.
An estimate of the number of people with an active infection of COVID-19 can be made using the number of cases identified within two weeks from the latest data updated on Nov. 18, 151, up from 113 the prior week and 128 two weeks prior.
According to a graph maintained by the Bangor Daily News, as of Oct. 19, masking is recommended in Lincoln County and every other county in Maine.
The U.S. CDC is recommending that people wear face coverings indoors if there is “substantial transmission” of the coronavirus in a county, defined as a weekly case rate of 50 or more cases per 100,000 people.
According to Maine CDC data current as of Nov. 16, for the total population, Lincoln County has a “moderate to high” rate of vaccine doses administered per 100,000 residents relative to other counties in the state at 167,537.68.
The number does not represent fully vaccinated individuals and, since the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines both require two doses, the number can be higher than 100,000, according to Robert Long, spokesperson for the Maine CDC.
The census data for Lincoln County provided by the Maine CDC lists a population of 34,634. Of those residents, 24,912, or 71.93%, have received their first dose of the vaccine and 25,157, or 72.64%, have received the second and final dose, according to the agency’s data.
A total of 58,025 doses of vaccine have been administered, up 1,569 doses from last week. Those counted in the final dose category have either received the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
There have been 7,956 additional or booster shots given to Lincoln County residents, up 4,826 doses from last week.
The vaccine is being provided through all of LincolnHealth’s primary care practices, as well as a booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
According to a database maintained by the Maine CDC, vaccine appointments can be requested at Hannaford in Damariscotta, Walgreens in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor, Nathan’s Pharmacy in Boothbay Harbor, and Community Pharmacy in Waldoboro.
Patients of Sheepscot Valley Health Center in Coopers Mills can call 549-7581 to make an appointment for a vaccine.
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 or call 1-800-WALGREENS.
To schedule an appointment at Community Pharmacy, go to communityrx.com/covid-19.
To schedule an appointment at Nathan’s Pharmacy, call 315-2280.
According to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, the seven-day average positivity rate for Maine is 6.89%, down from 7.49% last week.
State COVID-19 numbers
According to data current as of Wednesday, the Maine CDC has reported 116,948 COVID-19 cases in Maine, an increase of 3,816 from the week before. Of those cases, 33,486 are probable.
There have been 3,074 hospitalizations in the state. There have been 1,300 deaths so far from COVID-19 in Maine, including 57 reported in the last week. The statewide case rate is 873.8 per 10,000 people, up from 845.3 last week.
On Tuesday, Nov. 23, Maine reported 1,089 new cases over the last three days and 28 additional deaths.
