There have been no new cases of COVID-19 identified in Lincoln County residents in the past week, a benchmark not seen since October 2020.
According to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data current as of Tuesday, June 22, since COVID-19 arrived in Lincoln County in mid-March 2020, 1,078 residents have had the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus — 891 confirmed cases and 187 probable.
There have been 25 hospitalizations and three residents have died — unchanged from last week.
John Martins, spokesperson for LincolnHealth, said in an email that the past week’s COVID-19 testing data at the Miles Campus’ Respiratory Care Clinic is “extremely encouraging.”
From June 14-20, 255 COVID-19 tests were performed with one positive, for a positivity rate of 0.39%, the lowest rate since the beginning of October.
LincolnHealth is still working to vaccinate individuals at the Watson Center on Damariscotta’s Miles Campus and through “pop-up” clinics. Martins said that LincolnHealth hopes to have doses of vaccine available in the hospital’s primary care offices the week of July 5.
In the past week, the Watson Center delivered 95 doses, 17 of which were first doses.
LincolnHealth held a pop-up clinic at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Soule-Shuman Memorial Post 4525 on Mill Street in Waldoboro on Thursday, June 17 and delivered 66 second doses and 18 first doses.
Martins said that Waldoboro is up to a 70% vaccination rate, but there are still more than 2,000 residents who have not had the shots, according to the Maine CDC.
“This remains an area we will continue to focus on with (pop-up) clinics,” Martins said in an email.
LincolnHealth will post updated clinic information on its social media pages.
Martins said that LincolnHealth is also working on a revised visitation policy and patient screening procedures which should be available later this week.
According to Maine CDC data current as of Tuesday, Lincoln County has a “high” rate of vaccine doses administered per 100,000 residents relative to other counties in the state at 125,391.23. The number does not represent fully vaccinated individuals and, since the Pfizer 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, 21,510, or 62.11%, have received their first dose of the vaccine and 21,918, or 63.28%, have received the second and final dose, according to the agency’s data. A total of 43,428 doses of vaccine have been administered. 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.
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.
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 1.23%, down from 1.5% last week.
According to the U.S. CDC, the seven-day average positivity rate for this past week is 1.8%, unchanged from last week.
State COVID-19 numbers
According to data current as of Tuesday, the Maine CDC has reported 68,877 COVID-19 cases in Maine, an increase of 194 from the week before. Of those cases, 18,504 are probable.
There have been 2,066 hospitalizations in the state. There have been 856 deaths so far from COVID-19 in Maine, including three reported in the last week. The statewide case rate is 514.6 per 10,000 people, up from 513.2 last week.
The number of new cases identified in the past two weeks is 493, down from 803 last week.
