Maine’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen above 200 for the first time since February.
That comes as most measures to control the spread of the coronavirus have been phased out and a surge in cases accompanying the spread of the so-called stealth omicron variant — BA.2 — gains a foothold in Maine, erasing for the moment gains the state made in reducing hospitalizations since the winter.
There are now 204 Mainers infected with the virus in hospitals across the state as of Friday morning, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 193 the day before and up from 132 just 10 days earlier, a 55 percent increase.
It’s the highest Maine’s hospitalizations have been since Feb. 23 as they were falling off sharply from the peak set during the winter’s omicron-fueled surge in infections.
Of those, 35 people are in critical care and four on ventilators, both up slightly from Thursday.
Despite the renewed surge in cases and hospitalizations, the situation in Maine is not as dire as during the peak of winter, when more than 430 Mainers were hospitalized at one point with the virus and the Maine CDC was swamped with a backlog of positive cases.