The number of COVID-19 patients in Maine’s extensive care sets fell this week to the lowest levels in nearly a year, as fewer patients have the most severe symptoms of the disease.
But the virus continues to evolve, and more subvariants emerge to infect even those vaccinated and those who have become inflamed before.
The newer versions, dubbed omicron BA. 4 and BA. 5 by scientists, have the main strains in Maine and across the country, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed Friday.
He said those subvariants are more likely to cause the most new infections in just a few weeks and now account for 76 percent of new COVID cases in New England and 81 percent nationwide. And, Shah said, the disease will most likely continue to mutate, prolonging a pandemic that has been on its course in the United States for more than 2 1/2 years.
“It’s a shame, but that’s what viruses do,” Shah said.
The new variants appear to be to blame for an increase in the number of cases in Maine this week and may keep the total number of hospitalized patients well above the numbers recorded over the past two summers.
The only positive point in recent weeks has been the decrease in the number of other people severely because of the disease. In Maine, 12 COVID patients were in the hospital’s intensive care units on Friday, a strong low since last December, when delta and omicron variants were increasing, and Maine peaked with 133 COVID patients in ICUs.
Maine’s ICU patient count fell to 11 on Thursday, the lowest number since July 18, 2021, when there were also 11 patients in intensive care.
A total of 119 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maine on Friday morning, the CDC reported. Of the 12 patients in intensive care, 3 were on ventilators. The total number of patients increased from 114 on Thursday, Maine’s general hospitalizations have fluctuated between 110 and 130 over the past 3 weeks, with no sustained increase or decrease.
Nationwide, 4632 COVID patients are in intensive care lately, according to federal figures. That number has risen in weeks since it hit an 1820 low in the ICU in mid-April.
Scientists are still reading the newer variants, Shah said, but based on the knowledge so far, they don’t appear to cause more serious illness than the original variant of omicron that gave the impression last fall. Friends that the delta variant that emerged last summer and spread in the fall.
However, Shah noted, newer variants appear to spread more easily and scientists are looking at how far they can evade vaccines or the immunities that other people develop after becoming inflamed with the diseases.
The state reported 300 new cases on Friday, COVID. La seven-day average of new cases rose to 216 compared to the same day from 181 a week ago.
Along with the backlog of official instances this week, the CDC reported that more Mainers are being tested in clinics and pharmacies and a higher percentage of tests are coming back positive.
There is no way to expect what will happen next or how long the pandemic will continue, Shah said.
“COVID is going to be with us,” he said. There is no iron in science that says variants have to evolve in some way. “
Lately, the number of COVID cases in Maine is relatively low compared to other parts of the country, though there are hotspots where BA. 5 is “fueling almost an increase,” said Dr. James Jarvis, lead medical officer, incident command for Northern Light Health. CDC data shows cases are spreading to the maximum in Knox and Aroostook counties.
Most new England also reports a relatively low number of COVID cases, Jarvis said. Four out of five Maineans are fully vaccinated, he said, meaning the spread of the virus is controlled and if other people are infected, it’s less likely to be a severe case.
I ALWAYS RECOMMEND INDOOR MASKS
Jarvis and Shah say other people wear masks if they are indoors, especially those over 50 and with an underlying physical condition, and urge those who have not been fully vaccinated to do so.
Jarvis said other people have contracted the virus two or three times and those who have recently become reinfected report that their symptoms were slightly worse than the first few episodes of the disease.
“This specific virus mutates rapidly,” he said, and scientists are looking at a new variant that has been reported in Asia and appears to be spreading rapidly.
It’s not unusual for viruses to mutate, he said, however, COVID has remained highly infectious and that means it discovers more hosts in which it can mutate.
“It just turns out to happen much faster” than peak viruses, he said. One bright spot, Jarvis said, is that most of the variants that are spreading are variants of omicron and scientists are working on vaccines that would target omicron and its subvariants.
Omicron BA. 5 and BA. 4 have higher cases and hospitalizations worldwide, in the United States.
Public health officials say older people with underlying illnesses, as well as younger, unvaccinated people, are the teams most likely to show up at hospitals and need care. Health experts continue to urge others to get vaccinated and get boosters if they are eligible, as vaccines prevent severe symptoms.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Maine has recorded 272,905 cases and 2,464 deaths.
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