Maine has begun processing thousands of positive COVID-19 cases from a massive backlog of tests, adding 10,968 cases to the official count on Tuesday.
The cases were reported to the state as positive tests over the past several weeks but were not processed immediately because the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention was overwhelmed during the omicron surge. The state has now streamlined the review process and is using an automated system to clear the backlog. The dramatic spike in confirmed cases does not reflect an actual rise in infections.
Real-time indicators all continue to point to a decline in infections and illnesses. Based on wastewater testing, hospitalizations and other metrics, pandemic trends have improved during the past several weeks.
The state also reported 21 additional deaths on Tuesday, most likely from a periodic review of death certificates going back weeks. The omicron variant surge overwhelmed the state’s ability to process cases – including weeding out duplicate positives – so the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is moving toward a more automated system.
But even though the Maine CDC decided to automate a few weeks ago, switching over to the new system is taking time, because of the technical hurdles required, according to Maine health officials. The omicron wave and the process of switching to a new system has skewed results, with artificially low results posted weeks ago, and a massive amount of cases reported on Tuesday that does not represent the current state of the pandemic.
Steve Dugas of Yarmouth takes a Covid test at Yarmouth Public Works Tuesday, January 18, 2022. Staff photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette
“In recent days, we launched a system to automate a portion of this (case count) process,” said Robert Long, Maine CDC spokesman, in a statement on Monday. “As a result, for several days starting with the update on February 15, the Maine CDC webpage will show a significant increase in the day-to-day tallies of total cases, confirmed cases, and probable cases.”
Since the pandemic began, Maine has reported 198,665 cases of COVID-19, and 1,849 deaths.
Meanwhile, wastewater testing data released on Monday from 13 treatment plants across Maine is showing substantial week-over-week declines in most of the reports, including from Portland, Bangor, Brunswick, Lewiston-Auburn and Augusta.
Hospitalizations had not yet been updated on Tuesday, but stood at 275 on Monday, a 37 percent decrease from the pandemic peak of 436 on Jan. 13.
The positivity rate – the percent of all tests conducted that come back positive – also has declined, another good sign. The positivity rate stood at 8.6 percent on Monday, compared to 14.4 percent two weeks ago and more than 20 percent at the peak of the omicron wave in mid-January.
This story will be updated.
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