The state reported 276 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, a day after the head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention warned of a possible new wave of cases.
In addition, the state reported one new death, a man in his 70s from Penobscot County, according to the Maine CDC.
Dr. Nirav Shah, Maine CDC director, said in a series of tweets Tuesday that there are “some signs” COVID levels may be on the rise.
“First, the most recent set of wastewater surveillance results showed uniform increases in viral levels across the state,” he wrote. “This is different from the episodic spikes we’ve seen before.”
There has been an increase in viral RNA in wastewater in the past 15 days, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Shah also noted the recent increase in hospitalizations, which have edged up from 91 on Friday to 104 on Tuesday. By Wednesday, they had fallen back to 99, with 27 people in intensive care and five on ventilators
On the other hand, Shah said positive test rates do not seem to be going up, so those rates and daily case counts are no longer “leading indicators.” Hospitalizations and wastewater results are likely better ways to track the virus’ spread, he said.
“It’s too early to tell if these data points are signals or noise,” he wrote. “Indeed, with epidemics, it’s often only in retrospect that trends are identified and confirmed.”
He then advised Mainers to get booster shots, have tests ready and make a plan to get medicine if needed.
Since the pandemic began in Maine, 236,985 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, along with 2,208 deaths.
