The statewide daily average of people diagnosed with COVID-19 visiting an emergency department spiked near or at 2% in late August but is trending downward, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention data.
This time last year, daily averages exceeded 3%.
There was a significant increase in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 during the week of Sept. 2, with 42 reported statewide, according to the CDC. Two weeks before 26 new admissions were reported.
However, those figures remain significantly lower than a year ago when there were near or at 100.
In the past year, the highest spike in new hospitalizations statewide was 160 the week of Oct. 8, 2022, according to CDC data. Since last spring, they have remained in the 20s or lower for most of the summer.
Prevalence of the COVID-19 virus in municipal wastewater systems in Androscoggin County is also significantly lower than a year ago, according to data gathered by Biobot Analytics. Androscoggin county’s levels in municipal wastewater remained lower than the national average for most of the summer until a spike in late August. It went from 400 particles per milliliter to 850 the week of Aug. 23 and stood at 641 as of Wednesday.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
